Lost and Found
by katienote3
Summary: A few months before Kurt could graduate from high school he ran away from home to protect himself and his family. Now 7 years later Burt receives a wedding invitation from his long lost son's fiance. Klaine
1. Chapter 1

Sorry this is super random and things change as i went through. I wrote this for nanowrimo so little to no editing and i had a hard time keeping track of things i had already written in the story so... hope it's ok anyway, let me know :)

I did this in word so sorry for any problems with formatting, ill try and fix it if i catch it but with it already written i'm not planning on going back and rereading everything, sorry ;P

Also this story is going to switch between present and past, starting with the present.

* * *

 **Present**

Blaine was nervous. He bought the ring three weeks ago when he saw Kurt eyeing it in a vintage store on 3rd street. Today he planned to pop the question when they went on their nightly walk at their local park.

He kept fingering the ring box in his pocket and he knew that if he didn't stop Kurt would notice but he was just so nervous! He took a deep breath and walked out of their apartment and locked the door. Kurt was in the lobby waiting for him and checking the bulletin board for any important updates from the manager of their building.

He walked down the three flights of stairs to the lobby area and Kurt. He was waiting for him in front of their mailbox. He looked so handsome with his workout clothes on, his hair only slightly styled and with a plain t-shirt and sweatpants.

Blaine thought he looked amazing but he also knew that Kurt would throw a fit later that he looked so "frumpy" when he got engaged but Blaine would distract him and then Kurt would be too happy to care anymore. Blaine grinned at Kurt and wrapped his arms around Kurt from behind and set his chin up on Kurt's shoulder.

Kurt grinned and rested his hands on Blaine's. They stood there for a moment before Kurt turned and gave Blaine a chaste kiss while encircled in his arms. Blaine gave a chaste kiss back and they both grinned before separating and grabbing hands and walking out of the apartment building.

They walked down the crowded street four blocks until they got to Randell Park. Once they entered the park they started walking on the walking track. They talked and laughed at some of the other runners or some other people at the park.

Once they got to the picnic area they stopped at a curved tree that allowed them both to sit on the truck, a little squished but they both fit. They both sat down and drank some water and just relaxed a little before Blaine suddenly jumped down, he wasn't that short but his feet did dangle down a little while Kurt's touched the ground.

"Blaainne. Do we have to get up already? You haven't even finished half your water yet!"

Blaine grinned, nervously but he was still excited. He held out his hand for Kurt to grab, he sighed but grabbed his boyfriends hand and stood up from the curved tree. As soon as Kurt was up on his feet Blaine dropped down onto one knee.

"Oh god. Oh god. Blaine. Oh my god, Blaine!"

Blaine grinned up at his magnificent boyfriend and pulled out the ring box. Kurt gasped and his eyes started to water. Blaine slowly popped open the ring box as he asked Kurt the question.

"Kurt, I love you with all my heart and I know you and your past and I want to spend the rest of my life with you."

Tears streamed down Kurt's face and Blaine took a breath before finishing his proposal.

"So, Kurt Elizabeth Hummel will you marry me?"

Tears streaming down Kurt's face he squealed a little bit and nodded quickly.

"Yes, Yes, Yes!"

Blaine smiled and started to cry himself as he surged up and kissed Kurt. Kurt grabbed his face and kissed him back, their happy tears mingled together as they laughed and smiled. Blaine grabbed Kurt's hand and slid on his simple white gold ring onto his left ring finger. Kurt giggled and held out his hand to see his ring.

"Did you get one for you?"

Kurt spoke through his tears as he looked at Blaine expectantly. Blaine grinned sheepishly and held out the ring box with a matching ring still sitting in the box. Kurt smiled and pulled the ring out and slowly slipped the ring onto Blaine's left ring finger.

Together they held out their hands to see their matching rings and grinned at each other. They hugged again and kissed, smiling the entire time with tears sliding down their faces.

"Oh my god Blaine I love you so much!"

Kurt grinned at his fiancé as he spoke and they both smiled and giggled.

"Oh god Blaine Nick and Jeff are going to kill you for proposing now. They just got engaged last month and now us."

Blaine shook his head and smiled at Kurt.

"I already talked to them. They're happy for us but want you to promise that you won't plan our wedding for the same time as theirs."

Blaine gave Kurt a look that said "you better not plan our wedding so some of our best friends can't come because they are on their honeymoon." Kurt scoffed but smiled and hugged Blaine again.

"God Blaine we're getting married!"

Blaine smiled and grabbed his fiancé around his waist and kissed him again.

"And it's even legal now."

Kurt smacked his chest but wrapped his arms around Blaine's shoulders and smiled.

"I love you."

"I love you too."


	2. Chapter 2

**Past**

Kurt was sitting in the living room doing homework while watching Grey's Anatomy when Finn came home. The door slammed open and Kurt just assumed football practice hadn't gone well but then Kurt heard Carole gasp and his dad cuss.

Kurt put down his textbook and got up from the couch to go investigate what was happening at the front door. When Kurt turned the corner to the front door he gasped. Finn was standing in the hallway completely covered in red slushy. His eye was blackened and his lips where swollen and cut. His left wrist also looked swollen and his whole are wasn't moving.

Kurt gasped and sputtered, he had no idea what happened but he did know that his step-brother needed to go to a hospital. He turned to his dad to say as much but noticed he was already grabbing his keys and ushering the three of them out the door.

Carole and Kurt carefully shuffled Finn into his dad's car and carefully buckled him into the truck. Once Finn was in the care the four of them quickly set off for the hospital.

No one talked, except to check on Finn every few minutes, on the way to the hospital. Every bump in the road made Burt quickly turn behind him to make sure he hadn't jostled Finn too much. Kurt held onto Finn's right hand the entire trip and shook him every few minutes when he started to doze off.

Once they quickly pulled into the parking lot of the hospital the three of them quickly piled out and helped Finn carefully out of the car and into the waiting area of the hospital. Carole filled out his paper work and got Finn check in while Kurt continued to hold Finn's hand and shake him awake.

Once he was completely checked in Carole took over holding Finn's hand for Kurt. Kurt was reluctant to give up his brother's hand but he knew that Carole needed to hold her son and that Finn, if he was fully conscious, would probably prefer to hold his mom's hand than his gay step-brothers.

They only had to wait for five minutes before Finn's name was called. They all stood up and, again, carefully helped Finn up. Before they could walk away with the nurse Burt turned to Kurt with concerned eyes.

"Why don't you wait out here?" Before Kurt could argue, because Burt knew his son and because Burt could see Kurt's face, Burt spoke up again. "Try and see if you can find out what happened by texting Noah or some of your other glee friends who are on the football team."

When Kurt still looked like he was going to argue Burt interrupted again.

"Kurt, we don't know everything that is wrong. The doctors are probably going to ask him to strip to look at his ribs and shoulder."

That and a look got Kurt to shup up and made him sit back down into the waiting room chair. He watched as his dad, step-mom, and step-brother were led into the treatment area of the ER with the nurse.

Kurt understood why he wasn't in there with Finn and his family but it didn't sit right with him that his dad had to point out to him that Finn wouldn't be comfortable with him in his room with his shirt off. He was angry and scared for Finn but he pulled out his smart phone, thank god he had it in his pocket when they all suddenly left the house.

With his phone out Kurt sent a mass text to all the glee boys on the football team; Noah, Kurt refused to call him Puck, Mike, Artie, and Sam. Kurt almost included Finn in the text that just showed how freaked out he was if he forgot to not include his hospitalized brother.

 _Kurt: What the hell happened at practice today!?_

 _Noah: wat did finn tell you_

 _Sam: huh?_

 _Kurt: We are in the ER!_

 _Sam: wat!_

 _Artie: Wat happened!?_

 _Mike: Nothing happened at practice something most have happened after we all left._

 _Noah: wat the f*ck happened and where the h*ll are you_

 _Kurt: Nothing happened at all?_

 _Kurt: He was covered in slushy and it looked like his wrist and shoulder are dislocated at least._

 _Noah: ill beat the f*ck out of anyone who touched by boy who was it_

 _Sam: I saw Karofsky and Azimio with slushys when I left_

 _Noah: ill kill em_

 _Mike: Finn stayed late after practice to help Coach with some stuff they must have got him then._

 _Artie: idk guys why would they go after him?_

 _Sam: theyve been watching all us glee guys since prom I think theyre after us again_

 _Puck: meet me before school tomorow and well talk_

 _Mike: Keep us updated Kurt!_

 _Artie: ya let us know whats happening_

 _Sam: be safe kurt_

Kurt bit his lip. He had noticed that the bullying had gotten worse since prom but he had just assumed it had been him that Karofsky was after. Suddenly Kurt realized what this meant. If Finn was being beat up, actually beat up and not just slushies thrown at him, then Kurt was in deep trouble.

Kurt had always been teased, first because he liked tea parties instead of playing with cars, then it was because he dressed better or more fashion forward. In high school starting freshman year they teased him for being gay.

At first it was just slushies, locker shoves, and an occasional dumpster toss. Sophomore year things started to get worse. The bullies went after him almost every day and the dumpster tosses went from occasional to once a week or more. Once the glee club started and the football boys joined thing stopped for a little while. The confrontation during Gaga week helped for about a month, after that the slushies and locker shoves resumed without as much force and then didn't happen as often as before.

As time passed the locker shoves got harder and more often. For the most part the dumpster tosses stopped but that was mostly because Noah was the one to implement them. Finn and the glee football guys were what kept some of the bullies away.

Most of the bullies knew that Beiste liked the glee kids and she was very against bullying. That didn't stop all the bullying but it did detour the worst of it. After Karofsky kissed him during junior year things with Karofsky got worse. He shoved him more and made faces at him.

Once Burt and Sue found out and Karofsky was expelled the bullies took great pleasure in torturing him for getting Karofsky expelled. When Karofsky came back things were worse for about a week before everyone but Karofsky settled down to just slushies and locker shoves. Karofsky still shoves him harder than anyone else and more often but except for bruises covering his shoulders he hasn't been hurt too badly.

The problem is if the football glee boys are being targeted, especially Finn who is once again captain of the football team, then he was sure to be beat up worse than Finn. Kurt knew that the school wouldn't do much, even if they could prove that Karofsky and Azimio did it. He bit his lip and thought about all the things the bullies had done to him and what they did to Finn.

Oh god. They were going to kill him. It wasn't an idle thought, Finn normally didn't get beat up or really bullied beyond smack talk and an occasional problem during football practice, but he did. If this is what they did to Finn then what would they do to someone who they _really_ don't like and already bully.

Kurt started to panic. It was only nine months until graduation but so much could happen in nine months. If the people who were protecting he were no longer offering any protection it would be open season on the gay kid. Maybe they wouldn't kill him but Karofsky had been moving into his personal space more and more recently.

Would he beat him up, or worse, rape him? Kurt didn't know and he was really starting to get scared. No one at this school really cared that he got beat up, that he was teased for being gay. He knew he didn't have it as bad as some school, like the kids a few towns over who was beat almost to death after a school dance, but it could just be worse now.

Kurt didn't notice how much time had passed in his panic but he did hear his dad call his name. He jumped up from his seat and looked to the entrance of the treatment area of the ER. His dad was standing in the door way and signaling for Kurt to come to him.

Kurt quickly moved toward his father. He tucked his phone back into his pocket and made a quick decision not to tell his dad what the guys thought happened, it would just upset him and Burt's heart still wasn't the strongest.

Once Kurt reached his father Burt ushered him into the ER and then led him down a hallway and Kurt assumed they were going to Finn's room. Once they were around a corner Burt stopped them and turned to face Kurt.

"Did you found out anything from your friends?"

Kurt bit his lip but shook his head. He wasn't _really_ lying. Technically no one knew for sure what happened, everything was just speculation and it was possible, though not likely, that something different had happened.

Burt gave his son a skeptical look but he didn't question his son. Instead he just sighed and dropped his shoulders. Burt lifted his hat and scratched his head

"Finn's got a dislocated shoulder, sprained wrist, two bruised ribs, and a concussion along with cuts and bruises all over."

Kurt gasped and nervously twittled his fingers. They most have really gone after him for him to be that hurt.

"Can I see him or is he not awake?"

"No he's sleeping but you can come in his room and see him. He's been pretty out of it the entire time until the sedated him. They are moving him into a more permanent room now so you might want to wait another few minutes. They still have to cast his wrist but they've put wraps around his ribs and given him a sling."

Burt gripped his son's shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"Let's go get something to eat from the cafeteria. Or at least let's get some coffee for us and Carol."

Kurt nodded and let his father guide him down the halls to the hospital cafeteria. The cafeteria wasn't crowded but there was a few people scatted around at a few of the tables. Burt guided him threw the cafeteria, grabbing a sandwich for himself and Carol and also nudging Kurt to grab something.

Kurt grabbed a salad and helped his dad grab three large black coffees for himself, Burt, and Carol. Once Burt paid for their meals and then shuffled Kurt to sit at one of the booths in the corner of the cafeteria. Once they were both seated they both started to eat, in silence again.

Once Burt was about half way through his sandwich he stopped eating and looked at Kurt. It took Kurt a few minutes to realize his dad had stopped eating but when he did he set down his fork and looked at his dad expectantly. Burt cleared his throat and dropped his sandwich onto the cellophane wrap it came in.

"Kurt, are you sure no one knew what happened today."

Kurt bit his lower lip and shrugged his shoulders.

"The guys said Finn left after them but that nothing happened at practice so they don't know what happened."

Burt looked at his son. He knew that Kurt was holing something back but he also knew his son well enough to know that if Kurt didn't want to tell him yet he wouldn't. Burt sighed and finished his sandwich as Kurt picked at his salad.

Once Burt finished and he saw that Kurt wasn't really eating, just picking at it to look like he was eating he got up and grabbed his coffee as well as Carol's sandwich. Kurt got up and tossed his salad as well as his dad's sandwich wrapper and grabbed his coffee as well as Carol's.

The two of them walked in silence down the hallway to an elevator. Once in the elevator Burt pressed the button for the fourth flour, which was marked children's ward on one of elevator sides. Kurt giggled a little to himself thinking that Finn was still a child as his birthday was in August.

Burt grinned at his son seeing where he was looking and thinking of his Fankenteen of a step-son lying in one of rooms with giraffes painted on the colorful walls. The two of them shared a smile before resuming the silence that had taken over the day.

The elevator ride wasn't long and it made a ding sound before the doors opened. With the doors open the two of them walked out of the elevator and Burt led them through the hallways again to a room marked 431. Burt knocked on the slightly ajar door and then opened it before there was any response.

The room was small but the walls were covered in blue paint that helped remove some of the hospital feel to the room. Then again so did the huge giraffe painted onto the wall opposed to the bed. The bed was obviously brought in from a different area of the hospital as the bed looked too big for the room.

In the bed Finn was sleeping. He looked so much smaller sleeping in a hospital bed. His arm was in a sling to immobilize his shoulder and his wrist was wrapped in gauze and probably some sort of splint that Kurt couldn't see.

He was connected to so many tubes and wires and the beeping reminded you that you are in fact in a hospital. Finn suddenly stirred in his hospital bed. Everyone turned and the conversation between Burt and Carol stopped. He didn't open his eyes but shifted around in the bed quite a bit before Carol grabbed his hand and spoke softly to him.

Finn shifted some more but when Carol ran her hand over her son's forehead he opened his eyes slowly. He made some undistinguishable noises that sounded like he was in pain while Carol quickly comforted her son. Burt left the room for a moment to get a nurse but was quickly bad.

Kurt just stared at his injured step-brother. He looked like he was in such pain and he looked so fragile. When his dad came back with a nurse Kurt moved to the back corner of the room so she could check on Finn and so he wouldn't be in the way of his step-mom or dad.

The nurse checked some things with Finn's monitors then the chart at the end of his bed. She then spoke quietly to Finn and Carol before nodding and walking out of the room. Finn grimaced but his eyes wandered around the room and settled on Kurt.

Kurt smiled at him and moved toward the end of the bed to gently squeeze Finn's foot. Finn grinned at him and tried to shuffle up into a sitting position. He winced in pain and the three of them jumped forward to help him back down. Finn huffed but stayed laying down on the bed. Carol grabbed a remote on the side of the bed and reset the bed so Finn was more upright without having him _sit_ up.

"Hey Kurt."

Kurt smiled back at his step-brother and squeezed his foot again.

"Hey, how are you feeling?"

"I'm cool."

He said it but it wasn't convincing especially when he winced slightly after he finished talking. But everyone smiled at him and squeezed whatever part of Finn's body they could reach.

"Finn do you remember what happened?"

It was Burt who first spoke up. He didn't want to ruin the moment but he needed to know if Finn remembered so he could contact the school at least or maybe get the police involved. Finn looked a little confused at first but then he winced and nodded.

Burt waited expectantly for Finn to start telling what happened but the room was silent. Burt pulled his cap up and scratched his head. Obviously Finn didn't want to talk about it but at some point at least he was going to need to tell _someone_ what happened.

The room was silent for a moment before Kurt's phone started to vibrate frantically in his pocket. Kurt pulled out his phone and saw that the glee guys were texting him wanting to know how Finn was doing.

 _Kurt: He's gonna be OK. Sprained wrist, dislocated shoulder, bruised ribs, and lots of cuts and bruises._

A few of the guys responded back, mostly with get well wishes and one from Puck, again, expressing his interest in getter Karofsky and Azimo back. While Kurt was texting back the guys Carol started a light conversation with Finn and Burt about football.

With the guys reassured Kurt put his phone back into his pocket and pretended to have any idea what his family was talking about. He didn't have to pretend long because a few minutes later a doctor in dark blue shrubs knocked on the door before entering the room.

She smiled and introduced herself as Dr. Sara Robinson. She checked Finn's chart and vitals while Kurt shuffled toward his corner again. Once she was finished with her exam she turned to the Hudmels.

"So Finn because you have a concussion along with your other injuries we are going to keep you here overnight. We'll evaluate your condition again tomorrow afternoon but you should be able to go home then.

For now we will cast your wrist and get you a more permanent sling. Unfortunately there isn't much we can do for your ribs except to keep them bound for the time being and give you some pain medication.

I understand you're on your high school's sports teams?"

She waited for Finn to nod his head before continuing.

"Unfortunately I'll have to bench you for the rest of the season. You won't be up for much other than walking for a few months with your ribs and I don't want you popping your shoulder out of its socket."

She flipped through Finn's chart one more time before turning to Carol and continuing.

"Now because Finn is technically a minor one of you," She gestured lightly to Burt and Carol, "can spend the night with Finn but you don't need to."

Burt and Carol looked at each other for a moment before Carol said she would be staying the night. Dr. Robinson nodded and marked something on Finn's chart.

"OK we'll get a cot in here for you to sleep on. We can also bring you some food with Finn's or you can go down to the cafeteria and get your own. Just let the nurse know when she comes in asking for Finn's food choice.

Right now you have about," She paused and shuffled Finn's chart around in her arms to check the watch on her wrist, "twenty minutes left before she should start making her rounds so think about it."

She put Finn's chart back at the foot of his bed and turned back to the Hudmels.

"Visiting hours end at eight though they aren't likely to kick you two," She nodded at Burt and Carol, "out but you," She nodded at Kurt, "they might."

She checked her watch again but didn't seem to be in a hurry so much as doing it out of habit. She smiled at them and handed Burt her business card.

"If you have any questions don's hesitate to call me or have one of the nurses page me but if you have any questions now you can ask me."

Carol spoke up after a few moments of silence.

"When will he be able to return to school? I know he'll still be here to class tomorrow but will he be able to return to school on Monday or should he stay home longer?"

Dr. Robinson nodded and turned slightly so she was facing Finn as well as Burt and Carol.

"He should be able to return to classes on Monday but I should know more tomorrow after you," She nodded her head at Finn, "have rested a little bit and you've recovered some from the trauma."

Finn groaned a little and the doctor grinned a little at him.

"I'll leave you for now then if you don't have any more questions. Don't forget to call me with questions and concerns. Finn you'll want to sleep quite a bit the next few days and I'll have a nurse come in in a few minutes to give you something to help you sleep.

I know you probably want to do other things but sleep really is the best thing for your healing right now."

Finn signed but nodded and even yawned a little bit which made Dr. Robinson smile. She turned to Burt and Carol one last time before leaving the room. Finn yawned again and shook his head but Burt chuckled at his step-son.

A moment later a nurse knocked on the door before entering. She smiled at them and explained that she was giving Finn a light sedative that would put him to sleep fairly quickly and he would probably sleep for a few hours.

They all nodded, including Finn who looked a little put out but tired all the same. She gave Finn the drug, checked his vitals, and then left the room. It only took a few minutes for Finn to fall asleep but when he did Burt suggested that he could take Kurt home so he could finish his homework and get some decent food before coming back to the hospital for a few hours.

Kurt wanted to protest but Carol urged them both to go home if for no other reason than to get Kurt some new clothes and to get his cell phone and iPod so he had something to do if he couldn't fall asleep later. Kurt reluctantly left Finn's room with his father.

The two of them walked down the hall to the elevator and then out of the hospital to the car. The entire walk to the car was silent and the drive back home was only filled with music because Kurt was continually messing with the radio in his dad's truck.

Once they pulled into their driveway emotions suddenly hit Kurt again. Everything that had happened to Finn and everything that _could_ happen to him. God he was in so much trouble and he had no idea how he was going to stop any of it.

* * *

Writing the texts was a lot of fun :) and all spelling and grammar errors there were done intentionally


	3. Chapter 3

I changed a few things in the previous chapters - mainly just the author's note and adding the headings, nothing that changes the story.

I'm also going to say sorry if this strange because i am having a lot of trouble editing and posting chapters here, so sorry for that!

Also if anyone wants to give me opinions... i have everything written i just don't know if i should post the entire thing or if i should spread it out by only posting like a chapter a week...

* * *

 **Present**

After returning to their apartment and celebrating their engagement in a very _personal_ way they both lay panting in their king sized bed. They were lying next to each other on their backs. Kurt lifted his left hand up into the air and looked up at his ring. It was perfect for him, for _them_ and he was so happy that Blaine picked them out.

Blaine lifted his arm up with Kurt's so both their arms were in the air admiring their rings. Blaine grinned and grabbed Kurt's left hand with his own so their matching rings touched. Kurt giggled and turned onto his side so he could bury his face in Blaine's shoulder.

Blaine brought their arms down onto his chest and they both dozed like that for a few minutes. Blaine broke the silence first.

"I can't believe that both of the rings fit."

Kurt turned his face, confused, toward his fiancé.

"Why didn't you take one of the rings from my dresser?"

"Kurt, you have like three rings, two of them aren't even yours and the other one is from high school."

Blaine gave his fiancé a look but kissed his nose affectionately so Kurt knew he wasn't trying to start a fight.

"Oh. No wait I have that one you gave me when we got the apartment!"

Blaine laughed and kissed Kurt on the nose again.

"Kurt, that was plastic from a vending machine. I'm surprised you still have it even."

Kurt scoffed at Blaine. Of course he still had the ring. Blaine had given it to him when he asked Kurt to move in together. It might look slightly gaudy but he kept it for sentimental reasons and he would keep it forever for that reason.

"I love it and I love you for being such a fluffy romantic and giving it to me."

They shared a sweet kiss and curled around each other for a quick nap. Before they could fall asleep though Blaine's phone buzzed with a text message. Kurt and Blaine both moaned but Blaine reached behind him for his phone sitting on his bedside table.

"It's from Jeff. He wants to know if I proposed yet."

They shared a smile again.

"We should send a message to all our friends letting them know we got engaged."

Blaine nodded.

"We could post a picture of our rings on Facebook?"

Kurt nodded and smiled. Blaine opened his camera as they situated themselves on the bed so they could just get a photo of their left hands and their matching rings. After a few tries they succeeded and Blaine posted the picture on his Facebook page. He also changed his status from "in a relationship" to "engaged".

Kurt didn't use Facebook except when he was playing games and then he just used Blaine's account so they didn't need to post the picture on his timeline or tag him in the picture.

It didn't take long for their mutual friends and Blaine's friends to start commenting and liking the photo. Most of them knew instantly what the picture meant but a few needed some prompting from other comments to understand, Kurt commented that those people must be slow because the post on top of that was Blaine's relationship status change.

Kurt and Blaine sat together on their bed and watched as their friends, or some of their friends, became aware of their engaged status and congratulated them. When Cooper liked the picture the two of them shared a look and a kiss.

They were getting married!


	4. Chapter 4

**Past**

After they pulled into the driveway both of them sat in the car in silence for a few minutes. Burt grunted first and then opened the truck door and got out. Kurt followed after him and waited for Burt to open the house door.

Once the door was open they both walked into the house. Kurt went to move back into the living room to continue his homework when Burt put a hand on his shoulder.

"Kurt can you get together some of Finn's things for him tonight and tomorrow?"

Kurt nodded and again made to move up to Finn's room but Burt, again, stopped him.

"I know you're worried about Finn, Kurt but I think it would be better if you went to school tomorrow to reassure your friends and so you don't get behind in your school work."

Burt clapped his son on the shoulder.

"Though you probably could handle missing school for a few days while Finn… Well Finn might need some of your help with catching up."

Burt smiled at his son and Kurt responded with a small smile. With another clap Burt moved away from his son and wandered into the kitchen to get something to eat. Kurt quickly went up the stairs to Finn's room.

At the top of the stairs was two rooms, Finn's and Kurt's, and a bathroom that the two of them had to share. Finn's room was the first one to the right of the stairwell. Finn tended to keep his door partially open unless he was doing something he shouldn't, or that he didn't want anyone to know he was doing, today was no different.

Kurt slowly opened Finn's door, you really never knew what was in his room so Kurt was always careful. Finn's room was a neutral beige color, Finn hadn't cared what color his walls were so Kurt had picked a color for him that he thought he would like. His bed was to the left of the door and up against the back wall in the corner. His bed was unmade and his laptop was sitting precariously atop the blankets.

At one end of his bed was a chair for his desk, Finn never used it for his desk and instead used it for friends over or a convenient place to throw his dirty clothes. The left side of Finns room had thrown just about everywhere. His closet door was open and you could see the dresser inside with most of the drawers open and more clothes pouring out.

Opposite to Finn's bed was his desk. Most of his desk was taken over with the larger TV that he had. He also had a few gaming consoles and controllers scattered on the desk as well as on the floor. The rest of his desk was covered in random papers and food wrappers of different sorts.

Finn also had a bedside table under the window across from the door that would normally hold his phone and other things he would need on a regular basis.

Once Kurt walked into Finn's disaster of a room he realized that Finn's phone and IPod would be in his car with his backpack. Kurt sighed but looked around Finn's room for a backpack or something to put some clothes in. Kurt spotted a clean looking pillow case in his closet.

After retrieving the pillow case Kurt had the difficult task of finding _clean_ clothes. Luckily for Kurt he did see a pair of jeans in Finn's dresser that were Finn's size, Finn sometimes hoarded old clothes that didn't fit so every few months Carol would go through his clothes and get rid of old ones. With the jeans in the pillow case Kurt found a t-shirt folded, well partially folded, sitting on the ground. Kurt shoved that in the pillow case too and was just about to leave Finn's room when he saw a pair of sweatpants and a sweatshirt folded and sitting on his chair.

Kurt hesitated but shoved them both into the pillowcase with the other clothes. Kurt thought about grabbing some clean underwear for Finn but he really didn't want to look through Finn's clothes for a pair of _clean_ underwear. And he also didn't find Finn would appreciate he digging through his underwear, not that he would do anything with them other then look at them with distain Finn still had some sore spots with Kurt being gay.

With clothes in the pillowcase Kurt left Finn's room and closed the door behind him. Kurt went all the way down the stairs and went outside with Finn's clothes. First he put the pillowcase in his dad's truck. Then he went into Finn's car and grabbed his backpack.

Kurt opened Finn's tattered and torn black backpack and searched for his cellphone and IPod. He found his IPod in the front pocket but couldn't locate his phone. Kurt put Finn's backpack into Burt's truck with his clothes just in case Finn felt like doing some homework.

Kurt then starting digging in Finn's car for his phone. First he looked on and around the front seat, he didn't find it. Then he looked on and around the passenger seat, still with no luck. He then starting looking in the back seat.

He finally found it wedged under the driver side seat. He had to carefully wiggle it out from where it was stuck. He managed, just barely, to get it out without breaking the screen. Kurt was just going to throw it into his backpack when it buzzed with a message.

Kurt thought it must be Puck or one of the glee guys so he unlocked his phone, Finn wasn't stupid but he was fairly predictable so it only took Kurt two tries to unlock it successfully. With it unlocked Kurt saw that Finn had more than one text message. Kurt opened them and wished he hadn't.

Of the messages only three were from the glee guys making sure he was ok and Puck asking who else did it so he could beat them up like they beat Finn up. The rest were from the other members of the football team and a few other guys that didn't like Kurt or his "gayness."

Kurt started shaking but he had to know. He touched to see the conversation from the longest time ago. It was from Karofsky and he started texting Finn two days ago.

 _David K: your borthers a faggot and he need to stop_

 _Finn: wtf how did you get my number?_

 _Finn: and leave kurt alone_

 _David K: were teaching him a lesson that gays dont survive in real life_

 _Finn: leave it Dave youve already bullyed kurt enough_

 _David K: we havnt even started yet_

 _Finn: we? and leave kurt alone or ill tell the beiste_

 _David K: oh boo-hoo going to tattle on us to the coach_

 _David K: sports are almost done for the season_

 _David K: and u cant will without me or my boys_

 _Finn: leave him alone_

 _David K: someones gonna get taght a lesson tomorrow_

 _David K: if it isn't him than its gonna b u_

 _Finn: u arnt gonna hurt him again_

 _David K: then meet us in handsons classroom after practice_

 _David K: or dont show and well see wat happens_

Kurt felt sick but he felt even worse when he saw the next few texts from earlier that day.

 _David K: thats how fags get treated in the real world_

 _David K: if u dont want it to happen again dont interfer_

 _David K: u screem like a fag 2 i wonder if ur faggy brother will 2_

 _David K: I bet ur all cuddled up at home with him_

 _David K: FAG_

 _David K: I bet ur brother screems like a cheep hore. gess well find out tomorrow_

 _David K: heard ur in the hospital so sorry u wont b at school tomorrow_

 _David K: maybe ull see ur brother soon_

Kurt dropped the phone on the floor and rushed out the car door to some of Carol's shrubs framing the driveway and vomited. Once he finished he spit into the bushes again and wiped his mouth with his shirt bottom, the shirt was ruined anyway.

Oh god there was no hiding, no pretending, and no hope that maybe they were only mad at Finn. They were going to beat him up and if the texts from David were any clue than the beating he was going to get would be worse than what Finn got.

Kurt shakily got up from the kneeling position he was in. He slowly walked back to Finn's car and grabbed his phone. With the phone Kurt slid it into Finn's backpack with his IPod. Then he zipped up the backpack and shut all the car doors.

After that he dragged himself back inside. He didn't see his dad in the kitchen or living room. In the living room, though, was all the homework that he had for tomorrow, it really wasn't much just a worksheet and reading a chapter in his history book.

The homework for tomorrow sitting in the living room made his worrying intensify. Would Karofsy and his band wait till after school, would he even be able to turn in his homework or would he end up in the hospital with Finn even before Finn got released?

Before he could develop a panic attack Kurt gathered his work from the living room. With everything gathered he shoved it all into his satchel that he brought down with him when he had started his homework.

Once everything was in his bag he grabbed the bag and ran up the stairs to his room. Kurt's room was painted white, not a start hospital white but a soft warm white. All his sheets and curtains were black with grey accents.

His modern bed sat in the far right corner of his room with a matching bedside table next to it. Kurt's matching L-shaped desk was situated in the right corner by the door. His desk, unlike Finn's, was organized and neat. All his papers were carefully placed in folders and his laptop sat neatly in the center.

On the left of his room was his dresser, also matching of course, and closet. Both were neatly organized and stuffed to max capacity without damaging any of his clothes. The only part of Kurt's room that didn't match in furniture design was his vanity.

Kurt's vanity was originally his mother's until she passed away when he was eight. Her vanity was antique but beautiful and now sat in the far left of his room near his window. It was also neatly organized with Kurt's products and a few of his mother's old perfumes.

Once in his room Kurt quietly closed his door behind him and set his satchel to his left before sliding down the door to sit on the floor. Now he could panic. Now he could worry about his future and what was going to happen to him at school tomorrow.

Kurt was in such a panic he didn't hear his dad shout up to him that he was leaving and he would text him when he was on his way home or if his plans changed and he was going to stay with Finn and Carol overnight. Burt closed and locked the door behind himself and took his truck back to the hospital.

Kurt jolted out of his panic when he heard his dad's loud truck started and moved out of the driveway. He ran out of his room to the window in the hallway that faced the driveway. Burt's car wasn't there, obviously because he heard him pull out, but realizing that he was alone wasn't exactly comforting.

Kurt stared out the window for a few minutes before sliding down the wall and sitting on the floor with a thump. He sat there crying silent tears for a few minutes before wiping his tears and dragging himself back to his room.

Kurt set himself on autopilot and starting working on his homework at his desk. It only took him an hour and a half to finish it all and he tried stretching and extending the time he was doing his homework. Once his homework was completely done and packed neatly into his satchel Kurt just sat in front of his computer.

He didn't think he just started typing into his computer googling different things: bullying, death threats, suicide, what to do when you are bullied, how to stop bullying, Trever Project, and a few other things. When he was randomly putting things in google something caught his eye.

It was called The Lost House. When Kurt clicked on the link it lead to their one page website. The website was a blue color with white writing color. The website only had two things listed on it: a moto and an address. The address, though, had an asterisk on it that said " _Mailing address_ _ **only**_ _. Location of house is kept private."_

The moto, or rather a summary of what the house was and what it did, was about a paragraph and when Kurt read it he started to cry again.

 _The Lost House was built for young adults and teens who need somewhere safe to stay. It doesn't matter if the person is running from home, from school, or even them self, we are here to help young people who are lost and need to be found. We keep out location private so no one can find you unless you tell them. The Lost House finds you._

That was what Kurt needed someplace safe to stay. Someplace that could protect him from Karofsky, Kurt's other tormenters, and maybe even himself. He cried a little more but wiped his tears away and started googling The Lost House.

Nothing came up. Well google obviously had results but the only thing relating to The Lost House at all was the one link to the actual website. There wasn't any reviews no other mentions of it, nothing.

Kurt wanted to be there he wanted to live there. We wanted to be safe but he would never get there. It wasn't like he could walk into the house and stay there, there wasn't a location listed and it wasn't close enough to home that he could get to school.

Although maybe that was the problem, school. Going to school at all was going to get Kurt killed, but he couldn't transfer schools there was only four months left until graduation and where would he go anyway? He heard stories of other gay kids in the area that were bullied at school and the only real safe place from bullies he knew was Dalton Academy in Westerville.

He had looked at it after Karofsky threatened to kill him. He and his dad had sat down and discussed it. They _really_ thought about it but it was a private school and cost more than they could afford. Burt was going to do it anyway but Kurt knew that they really couldn't afford it with his dad's and Carol's wedding coming up and moving into a new house so he said the bullying had decreased.

He had to lie and pretend for a few weeks before his dad stopped bringing up Dalton every day. He hid the bruises and sore areas from his dad still after that because he knew that they still couldn't afford Dalton but that his dad wouldn't hesitate to transfer him if he knew just how much he was being bullied but he couldn't do that to his family so he was even more careful to hide everything.

Kurt signed and closed all the tabs on his computer and shut it down. With his laptop turning off Kurt got a text. He assumed it was his dad letting him know he'd be late or would be staying the night so he didn't check the message right away. He waited until his laptop was completely shut down. Then he plugged it in to charge overnight.

With that done Kurt flipped his phone over to check his message. It was from an unknown number and Kurt was curious, who would be texting him with an unknown number? Out of curiosity Kurt unlocked his phone and opened the message. For the second time that day Kurt wished he hadn't opened a text message.

 _Unknown Number: u better not b sick tomorrow or well come looking 4 u home_

Kurt squeezed his eyes closed, obviously it was Karofsky who somehow got his number and now _he_ was being threatened. He refused to cry he wouldn't let Karofsky ruin him, not with words at least. His phone buzzed again with a text message and as much as Kurt didn't want to look he knew that he had to.

 _Unknown Number: or u could do us all a favor and just get rid or yourself_

 _Unknown Number: u cant hide_

 _Unknown Number: everytime u hide behind someone well remove them_

Kurt phone buzzed twice more while he was reading the first text. He sobbed, either he was going to die or someone else was, he was sure. What could he do though, run away? Where? Where could he run away to that wouldn't be worse than here.

And what about his family? But would he be hurting them worse if he stayed? If he hid people would get hurt but if he went to school he would be beat so bad. And then he thought of The Lost House. Maybe he could find it and they could help him.

Until he found it though what would he do? Live on the street? Sleep in his car? His phone buzzed with another text and Kurt desperately didn't want to open it but he had to. It was from an unknown number but it was from a different number than the one Karofsky used. Kurt shook but he opened the text.

 _Unknown Number: Run. Kurt you need to run and not look back. You need to run and not tell anyone where you're going. Leave your cellphone and car and leave. (1/2)_

 _Unknown Number: (2/2) Don't let yourself be tracked. You need to get out before they come and get. They will kill you. RUN._

These texts scared Kurt even more. Whoever it was seemed concerned for him. He was scared, terrified, but from what Kurt was guessing and what this other person was saying Kurt needed to leave. But could he leave his family behind, forever?

He gulped, yes. Yes he could if he was protecting them and based on everything that had happened today they were in danger. Kurt pushed all his panic away and texted Karofsky back.

 _Kurt: I'm leaving and not coming back._

 _Unknown Number: good_

 _Unknown Number: if you do show up in lima again…_

 _Unknown Number: well id warn Finn before you show up_

And with that Kurt knew he had to leave and he had to do it now. With a gulp and wiping his eyes Kurt got up from his desk and went into his closet to find a backpack. He momentarily thought about grabbing a luggage box but he realized he wasn't going to be anywhere that that would be helpful.

He found an old hiking backpack that his dad had gotten for him when he was younger. Backpack in hand Kurt went and sat on his bed. He was going to have to leave behind so much. Most of his clothes would have to stay here. All his electronics. _His family_. Everything. He was going to lose everything to protect his family and himself.

He started to cry. It wasn't sobbing, yet, just tears leaking down his face. He quickly wiped them away before getting up and striding to his closet. He grabbed sturdy clothes that weren't too tight on him. Three pairs of plain blue jeans, a sweatshirt, four cotton t-shirts, six pairs of socks, and as much clean underwear as he had, which was only five pairs because he needed to do his laundry in the next few days.

He shoved them all in the backpack and looked around his room. What else could he bring with him? What else would he _need_? Tears still flowing down his face he grabbed two pictures framed on his desk. One was a picture taken when he was seven with his mom and dad. The other was taken recently with his new family.

He took both of them out of their frames and tucked the pictures into a book Finn had given to him as a gag, _How to Survive in the Wild_. He then put the book with the pictures in it into his backpack. Kurt then changed into more sturdy clothes than the more fashion forward clothes he had on.

He put on a pair of pain black jeans, skinny jeans but ones that weren't that tight on him, a black muscle shirt and a plain black t-shirt. Then he put on socks and a pair of sturdy, comfortable sneakers. He went to grab his wallet when his phone buzzed again.

He really, really didn't want to look at it. No text today had been a good one but he unlocked his phone and read it anyway. It was from his dad saying he would be spending the night with Finn and Carol unless Kurt wanted him to come home. He quickly texted his dad back that he would be fine home alone.

That's when Kurt lost it. When the tears running down his face stopped and instead he started sobbing. He was leaving, and he wasn't coming back. He wouldn't get to say goodbye to his dad or Finn or Carol or Rachel Berry or anyone else in the glee club. He sobbed harder as he fell onto the ground and curled into a ball and wailed.

For the next hour he just laid on the ground and let everything out. He cried. He screamed. He even sang some but throughout all of it tears leaked from his eyes. He was going to be alone. Alone in a world that probably hates him. He didn't have a plan except to hope and pray to anyone listening that he could find The Lost House but he knew the chances of that were slim.

Once his tears dried up and he packed his emotions into a tiny box and hid it in his head Kurt got up. He grabbed his wallet and tucked it into his jeans and zipped up his backpack before he could leave though he had to leave a note for his family.

He neatly organized and cleaned his room one last time before taking a notebook from his desk and opened it to a blank pager. Then he took a pen and wrote a quick note for his family that didn't come close to what he wanted or what he was feeling but it was what he could do.

Then he placed his cell phone on his desk next to the notebook. He hesitated a moment before grabbing a few other things from his room and tucking them into his backpack. He kept his bedroom door open, he would normally keep it closed at almost all times, and walked down the stairs.

He hesitated a few more seconds before grabbing his car keys and running back up the stairs to his room. At the end of his note he wrote that his car would be at the bus station with the keys in the glove compartment. Then he ran back down the stairs, grabbed his bag, and closed and locked the door behind him for the last time.


	5. Chapter 5

_i'm going to start posting chapters on an every other day basis because uploading these things is interesting and a agree with Somkeyroxy about reading WIP's sooooo... :)_

* * *

 **Present**

Six months after Blaine asked Kurt to marry him they started planning their wedding. He decided to wait to start planning the wedding so they could but be engaged for a while. It worked for them and even better for Jeff and Nick because they wanted to get married as soon as possible so the Niff wedding would happen in four months while the Klaine wedding wouldn't take place for another year.

With only around a year until their wedding Kurt and Blaine weren't really planning much. They started looking at venues and thinking for dates but all they had right now was they wanted to get married in August or September for a fall wedding.

Today both of them had off work so they decided to look at a few more places that they might have their wedding. They both thought about using the same venue as Jeff and Nick but decided that they wanted their wedding to be different.

They were, however, using the same wedding planner as Jeff and Nick because when Kurt and Blaine met her they liked her and she seemed extremely excited to work with all four of them. So today they were meeting her at her office and then they were going to tour a few possible locations.

Sarah James office was within walking distance, well for a New Yorker it was, so the two of them walked hand in hand to her office at eight o'clock in the morning. Sarah's office, they were told to call her Sarah and not Ms. James because they needed to be on a first name basis if she was helping them plan a wedding, was in a small building with a few other wedding planners from.

Sarah told them that the other five wedding planners in her building all worked for the same company that they created but that it was more like a freelance job because they didn't have a "big boss" who oversaw all there dealings. The inside of the building was painted a nice light blue color and had a small waiting area in the front that was separated by a door that lead to all the offices and a store room with a few possible things for people's weddings.

They walked into the office and sat down in the waiting area while the receptionist called Sarah to let them know they were here. They only waited a few moments before Sarah walked out. Sarah was a few years older than the two of them with long blond hair and fair skin. She was about the same height as Blaine in flats but taller in heals. Today she wore black fitted slack and a purple blouse. She was wearing flats today, probably because they would be walking around a bit today.

She welcomed them by shaking their hands and led them into her office. Her office was small but not cluttered looking. It was a nice warm off-white color with a darker wood desk sitting in the middle of the room. Behind the desk was a window with blue curtains. There were two plush blue seats in front of her desk for the bride and groom, or in this case the two grooms, to sit in.

The two of them sat down in their seats while Sarah took her seat behind her desk. She smiled at them and turned her monitor so she as well as Kurt and Blaine could see what she was doing.

"OK so the two of you want a wedding in the fall, August or September, correct?

The two of them nodded and she continued.

"OK so I looked at a few venues schedules and pulled a few that had open dates during those months. Have you decided how many people you plan on inviting yet, or, better yet, how many people you plan on having come?"

Kurt and Blaine shared a look before Blaine answered for the two of them.

"We were thinking only around a hundred people probably less but we thought that might be an OK number to start with."

Sarah nodded and click through a few folders on her computer.

"OK so with less people coming you'll want a smaller venue. Were you planning on having the actual wedding there or were you planning on using a church or another place?"

Kurt spoke up this time for the two of them.

"If possible it would be great to have the actual wedding and the reception at the same place or near it so we don't have to go far between the two. But if there isn't anywhere we like that does both we were thinking of just going to the justice of the peace to get married and then having a reception."

"Oh no we'll find someplace where you can have both. I'm not letting you get married at a court house."

She shook her head and pulled up a new folder and clicked around a few more times.

"OK so there is three venues we can start with today."

She clicked on a few more things and turned toward them.

"They have available dates and aren't in the middle of something right now so are allowing people to walk around the area. If you don't like any of them I can get a few more to look at next week and we'll keep looking until we find a place for you. OK?"

She smiled at them and printed a few things from her computer. She grabbed the sheets and handed them to Kurt and Blaine.

"OK these are the three places we'll see today."

She also pulled up pictures onto her computer. The sheets they were given had the names of the venues and specifics about them, special features they offered, prices, and other things.

She quickly went through the three of them before shutting off her computer and ushering them out of her office and to the parking area in the back.

Sarah had said she would drive them around so they didn't need a vehicle and they wouldn't need to call for a taxi. Her car was a black 2010 Honda Insight that still looked in good condition, OK so Kurt liked cars and defied the stereotype but he had since he was a kid working with his dad.

Sarah climbed into the driver's seat and Kurt sat in the passenger seat which meant that Blaine was sitting in the back alone. If he was honest he was completely fine with that as Kurt was more into getting the wedding perfect while Blaine just wanted to get married. Although to be fair Kurt was more than willing to get married at the court house if they needed to so he obviously really wanted to just get married as well.

The drive to the first venue was full of Kurt and Sarah chatting about different things about the wedding. Blaine piped up every once and awhile but for the most part he let Kurt do the talking for them.

The first venue they were going to Sarah said was the furthest out that she would look unless they really wanted to go outside the city. The two of them were OK with the idea but only if they didn't like any of the closer venues.

The drive to the museum, their first venue, wasn't too long but it did take a fair amount of time. When they got there Sarah met with a manager who showed them around and explained a few features to them. It was beautiful and they liked it but the two of them decide it might be a bit too big for their wedding.

After discussing what they liked and didn't with Sarah the three of them left for the next venue. The second venue was a conservatory. When they got there it was the same system, Sarah found a manager who showed them around, explained things and answered questions.

This one Kurt liked _much_ more. He loved that they could have their ceremony with all the flowers already there, without buying them or having to pick them. The reception would then be held in another room in the conservatory.

Blaine liked it as well, though mostly he liked that Kurt liked it so much. They talked with Sarah again and she suggested going to the last venue and then deciding if they wanted to use the conservatory or if they wanted to continue looking.

The last venue of the day neither of them really liked. It was a large reception hall with an area outside for the ceremony. Kurt didn't like it because he was very worried about the weather and Blaine didn't like how large the banquet hall was for the amount of people they planned on inviting.

On the drive back Blaine sat in the front seat, Kurt said it was only fair though Blaine protested. The three of them spoke about the conservatory being their favorite and all the things they could do there. At Sarah's office she gave them all the available dates for the conservatory in their date ranges.

The two of them discussed it before picking a date. They would be married on September 4th next year. Kurt squealed when Sarah booked the date for them and Blaine leaned over and kissed his fiancé quickly on the mouth. Sarah smiled at them and talked about the next few steps they needed to take and when they should have things done.

She told them that they were early in planning, although in New York that was a good thing, but with having a date and venue they could relax for a few months before really moving on to the next step. For now they should think of their guest lists, think of color schemes, and consider their wedding party.

Kurt and Blaine smiled and shook Sarah's hand before leaving her office. The entire walk home the two of them crowded each other's space and held hands tightly. When they got home they celebrated in much the same way as they did when they first got engaged.

In a year the two of them would be married, legally, and they could spend the rest of their lives together.


	6. Chapter 6

_My tumblr page (moefling) has a few random oneshot Klaine ficlets if anyone wants to check them out. I might upload them here too eventually..._

* * *

 **Past**

Kurt drove his Navigator to the bus station in Lima. There was a park and ride where Kurt parked his hard and tucked the key into the glove compartment. He also put all his credit cards in the glove compartment so his wallet only had his driver's license and cash in it. He took a deep breath, this was it this was his last chance to turn around go back and forget.

But he couldn't he had to keep his family safe even if that meant never seeing them again. He got out of his car and grabbed his backpack. With a final pat and checking the locks Kurt left his baby behind.

He didn't walk into the bus depo because he knew he could buy a ticket on the bus and it would take him to Columbus, or he would get another bus that would transfer. The Lima busses were part of the metro system that went to outlying areas of the bigger cities.

Kurt sat at the alcove waiting for the bus. He looked at a schedule sitting in the alcove. The next bus would go all the way to Columbus as it was the last bus of the day. He only waited two minutes before the bus pulled up at the alcove.

The driver opened the door and Kurt put two dollars into his tray and went to take a seat in the back. The driver stopped him before he could move though. He was a man probably in his late forties but he still had a head full of hair that was greying at the temples. He was a little more heavy set but wasn't to overweight.

The driver grabbed Kurt's arm and Kurt got scared. He was caught the driver was going to call the cops and send him home. This was it he was going to get his family killed because he couldn't run away well enough.

Instead the driver just asked him what stop he was getting off at so he wouldn't miss it. Kurt told him the Columbus bus depo. The driver nodded and Kurt took a seat in the center of the bus. There was only two other people on the bus. A younger man, probably in his mid-twenties, was sitting in the bag and an older woman, probably in her fifties, sitting in the front.

Neither of them made any move to talk with him so Kurt relaxed a little into his seat. He had grabbed an old MP3 player had had before he got his first IPod so he turned that on and listened to his music.

The man in back got off first at someplace between Lima and Columbus without being in either city but a city in between. The woman didn't get off until the crossed into Columbus, she got off at a senior home and Kurt was the only one on the bus beside the driver.

The drive to get to Columbus was about an hour and only about two minutes later the bus pulled up at the depo. Kurt got up and was exiting the bus when the driver called out to him.

"Hey kid."

Kurt stopped, bit his lower lip and turned toward the driver.

"There's a shelter four blocks from here going that way." The driver pointed down the road the where already on. "Or there's a place teens sleep about five blocks down that road that you might prefer." He pointed down the crossroad.

Kurt bit his lip again and opened his mouth to argue when the driver put up his hand.

"You don't need to say if I'm right or not but I thought you might want to know just in case."

After that Kurt quickly got off the bus and the driver quickly shut the doors and drove away. Kurt surveyed the area. The sun was setting and he probably only had a few minutes left of light. He hesitated, where should he go now?

Suddenly Kurt realized that he had no plan. He had no information. He was now lost and alone in a city he had only been to three times that he could remember. Before he left his plan was to find The Lost House and Kurt realized that the probability of finding, especially tonight, was null.

God what was he going to do? He looked at the two directions the bus driver have him and decided to go in the direction of the teen hang out the driver suggested. He had seen and heard a lot of stories about shelters and he didn't really want to go there.

He was concerned about going to the teen hang out though, because he didn't have a hard life, not like they show teens having that run away or would be at a teen home. He worried his lower lip as he walked. He didn't see many people as he walked but the few he did see were on the other side of the road or where in their cars going somewhere.

Kurt was probably almost to the teen hangout when he saw something he wished he hadn't. In the alleyway in front of him was two guys. No not guys, they were teens probably about his age. They were fighting.

Actually pull on fighting. Fists being thrown at each other, kicking one another, biting, scratching. Kurt wasn't sure if he should yell, run over and stop them, or just run away. He didn't get a chance to do much before the two of them suddenly stopped and turned to him.

Kurt couldn't see their faces because it was getting dark and they were further down in the alley but he could tell by their bulk that they could beat him to a crisp, especially with two of them. One of them hit the other in the shoulder and their fighting resumed but they were moving.

They were moving right toward him. That was when Kurt started to run. He stopped paying attention to where he was going and just started to run. He ran maybe a block before looking behind him. They were chasing him.

Kurt ran harder. Kurt was leaner and seemed to have longer legs so he could go further and faster but he had a large backpack on and it wore him out, because it was heavy and because it was awkward. He stopped looking back and just ran.

He ran until he was tired and kept running. He didn't look around him or pay any attention to how far way he was from where he originated. When he couldn't run any further he had to stop. He collapsed against a building and tried to catch his breath.

In the back of his mind he realized that there was no one behind him but he was too concerned with trying not to faint at the moment to really care. After he removed his bag and sat in a better position he was able to recover his breath after a few minutes.

With his breath recovered he realized there was on one around. He also realized that he wasn't in any part of town that he recognized or that he would want to recognize. All the buildings around him were beaten, old, and broken down. It looked like most of the buildings no longer had customers or were even open. Many were covered in graffiti and most had boarded up windows and doors.

A few here and there looked in a little better shape and had signs up indicating they were still open for business. Even those buildings, though, looked worse for wear and looked to be struggling just to pay the rent.

Kurt shakily got up and grabbed from his bag one of the water bottles he had shoved into his bag last minute before he left. After slowly taking a few drinks of water Kurt grabbed his bag and looked around for someplace to sit.

It was almost completely dark now and Kurt was exhausted with no place to go. He had no plan and now he realized that if he was going to survive on the street he was going to have to go it alone because he wouldn't survive against those teens and adults used to street live.

Kurt walked and looked down the allies as he passed them. He wasn't sure what he was looking for but he knew what he wasn't looking for, people. If there was anyone in the alley Kurt knew that he would start running again.

After the third alley between two abandoned buildings Kurt went down. The alley was small and thin, only wide enough for the dumpster at the end of the alley. It was only about around thirteen feet long so the buildings extended past the wall ending the alleyway.

The left building had a boarded up door right by the dumpster. The right didn't appear to have any door and Kurt was just about to set his bag down when he saw the door. Garbage from the dumpster was spread across the alley and the right corner and beyond had boxes and other larger pieces of garbage scattered and stacked to obscure a whole in the building.

It was probably once an opening for a door but parts of the door remained as well as a few boards that were probably put up before the building was completely abandoned. Kurt hesitated before peering in. It was completely dark inside and it didn't appear that anyone was inside.

The opening and space between door bits and boards was small but Kurt thought he could fit if he tried and scrunched up his body to slide in. He hesitated before digging though his backpack pockets to see if he had a flashlight still in the bag from when he went camping the one time with his dad.

He dug through all the pockets and was just about to give up when he found something that would work. It was a small and he had to hold a button down to turn the light on but it would work. He zipped up all the pockets of his bag and carefully climbed into the building.

Once he was inside he reached out and carefully pulled his bag inside the building. He flashed the light around but he couldn't really see much as the light was dim and didn't reach far but he could tell that no one had been in the building for a while.

Kurt didn't bother to look around any further. He couldn't see much and walking around trying to see would probably only lead him to run into things. He settled in by the door, just in case someone else found the door like Kurt had.

He leaned his back against his bag with his body facing the opening in the wall. He shifted and moved around on the hard floor. After shifting around a while longer he gave up and grabbed the MP3 player from his back. He put his headphones in and turned it on.

He knew that the battery would die sooner because he would probably fall asleep with it on but he needed the comfort tonight. With Kurt settling down everything also starting hitting him. He had run away. He wasn't going to see his family again. He hadn't even had a chance to say goodbye to them.

Now he was away from the bullies that had threatened him but was he worse off now? Those kids in the alleyway looked like they could kill and they defiantly looked like they could kill him. No, it would have been worse at home because the bullies there had threatened his family and not just him. The people here would just be after him.

Now he was breaking and entering into an old building that Kurt wouldn't have even considered looking at on any other day. He was sleeping on a cold, dusty, hard ground instead of his warm bed. Tomorrow he would get up and have no idea what to do.

It was keeping him awake. What _was_ he going to do tomorrow? He already decided that finding The Lost House was a lost cause so what was his plan now? A few things ran through his mind but he realized what he probably needed to do first was find some way to get food and water on a regular bases.

He had grabbed a few bottles of water before leaving and a few foods that wouldn't spoil like peanut butter and some jerky but that was all the food he had with him and unless he wanted to starve to death he would need more soon. That meant a few things, either he needed to find a shelter or someplace else that would feed him for free or he needed a job.

Finding a job would be hard though. They would have to pay him under the table in cash because he didn't have a social security card or a permanent residence. He also didn't have any references, a phone number, or any nice clothes to work in or even interview in.

There was one other option that Kurt had but he didn't really want to think about it. It might be Kurt's best, or only, option with his limited experience and his fear of other people who lived on the street. He could look through dumpsters to find food.

Kurt shuddered at the thought but pushed it aside. For now he could look around and see if someone would hire him with no experience and no questions asked. Tomorrow he would look around and see what he could find. He was panicking though and calming down and not thinking about wasn't happening.

He took a few deep breaths without it helping much. It was the lyrics of the song he was listening to that started to settle him down. It was his mom's favorite song when she was alive and he always felt safe and grounded when he listened or sang the song.

Kurt slowly and quietly sang only with _Black Bird_ and the Beetles cooed in his ears. Slowly he calmed down. His heartrate decreased and his breathing evened out. His breathing deepened more and slowly Kurt's eyes closed shut.

For now he would sleep later he would figure out his life and how much things would change for him. Now, now he would sleep and allow himself to rest and come to terms with what he had done.

He slowly drifted off into sleep and dreamed of being home in his own bed with his family sleeping in the house around him.


	7. Chapter 7

_OK i saw a review that this story was similar to Love's Cure by xxDharmagrlxx. I will admit that our summaries are similar but i haven't read this story (yet it is going on my to read list). It's possible that i read the summary and liked the idea but i don't know for sure. I'm sorry if there is any similarities - it wasn't on purpose and i'm not try to steal her idea. (I just sent a PM to the author and i'll see if she reply's at all)_

* * *

 **Present**

For the most part Kurt and Blaine didn't do much wedding planning after they set a date and venue. They concentrated on Jeff and Nicks wedding and being happy for their friends. They might say a thing to two here and there while helping Jeff and Nick but they didn't make any major decisions or really sit down and discuss what their plans were.

Well they didn't make any plans until they got an email from Sarah after Jeff and Nicks wedding. She wanted to set up a meeting so they could make a few more decisions about the wedding. It was about seven months until the Klaine wedding so in theory Kurt and Blaine knew they needed to really start planning but they were having too much fun being engaged.

It was odd at first for Kurt. He remembered being so excited to plan his wedding when he was younger but now he was just excited to spend the rest of his life with Blaine. He didn't care about having a big fancy wedding, or so he did care some but it wasn't so extremely important.

Kurt had some ideas for the wedding but, unlike when he was younger, he was more open to what Blaine wanted to do. He wanted their wedding to be about _them_ and he didn't care if that meant standing in a courthouse.

With Sarah's email though the two of them sat down in their living room to make a few decisions. They gathered a few wedding magazines and a few printouts from the internet about what they wanted. They agreed to each find some things and ideas that they, personally, wanted or would like for the wedding. They would then present their ideas to the other and they would makes some decisions.

They also decided that if they couldn't agree they would skip it and discuss it with Sarah or visit again later so they wouldn't be arguing today. They gave each other two days to find, collect, and print their ideas before presenting them to the other.

It was Saturday morning after they ate their breakfast that they met in the living room. They each set a stack of papers down on the coffee table and faced each other on their couch. They shared a quick kiss before starting on the decision making.

"OK so first wedding colors."

Kurt started the conversation with a smile and pulled a few papers from his pile. Blaine did the same so they both had papers in their hands.

"I was thinking gold and brown because it is a fall wedding and they go pretty well together."

Blaine spoke a little hesitantly and with a questioning tone. Kurt smiled at his fiancé and nodded.

"I like those colors together and they are defiantly fall colors. Maybe we could accent with a blue or turquoise color?'

Blaine nodded instantly. The fact the Kurt liked his color choices was a little amazing so having an accent color that Kurt chose made him feel better and they Kurt was defiantly taking part in the planning, not that Blaine was worried about that but he wanted both of them to be involved with everything.

Kurt grabbed his IPad from the coffee table and opened the google doc they had started for their wedding plans. Sarah had access to it as well so she knew their plans. In the document right now was only their date and venue.

Kurt typed into the document their colors with the accent listed. Then without closing the document he set the IPad to the side. They both put their papers on the ground and Blaine pulled his next few pages from his stack.

"OK so next on my pile is photographers if you're OK with doing that next?"

Kurt nodded and sorted through his papers to find the information he had on photographers.

"So I was thinking that we just needed a simple photographer to take pictures of the wedding party and to film the entire wedding."

Blaine nodded to this but also added what he wanted.

"I kind of want to have someone taking pictures during the reception as well as having some disposable cameras for the guests to take pictures."

Kurt thought about if for a moment before nodding.

"OK I'm ok with that as long as it stays in our price range and they are willing to do that. Did you have a photographer in mind or do we need to do some more research?"

Blaine showed Kurt some of the photographers he found and lists of what they offered and their prices. Kurt nodded at them but said he wanted to look at their other jobs before deciding on any of them. Blaine agreed and they listed a few things that they wanted the photographer to do on the google doc, just in case Sarah had some ideas and so they didn't forget.

Next they moved on to florists which was a major issue for them. Kurt argued that they didn't' need any because there would be flowers and plants all over. Blaine wanted to get some for the reception area because there wasn't any flowers in that hall. They argued about if for a few minutes and where just about to get in a heated argument when Blaine held up his hand.

"Wait. We said we wouldn't do this."

Kurt still looked angry and put out buy he had stopped talking and seemed to be listening to what Blaine was saying.

"We'll just put down florist with a question mark in our google doc and ask Sarah to help us resolve this issue."

He carefully didn't say that Sarah would chose a side and he also carefully didn't say that Sarah would help them decide if they would have flowers. Kurt looked a little apprehensive but sighed and released his arms from how they were crossed and grabbed the IPad.

He typed into it exactly what Blaine had said and the two of them moved on to a new topic. Kurt suggested to move on to what caterer they wanted to use. They each pulled out their pages and started discussing what they wanted for food.

This was something that took them some time to work out. Kurt wanted to be sure that the food they had was healthy and light so they could dance during the reception. Blaine wanted some Pilipino foods for his mom and her relatives. They didn't get into a fight about this but they both did decide that they should talk to Sarah about options and to see if the conservatory offered catering, they weren't paying that much attention those months ago that they toured it.

They put that into their google doc as well, making sure to put down notes of what they wanted and questions they had. Once they had that filled out they took a little break while Kurt reorganized how the google doc worked, right now it was just a jumbled mess of random sentences and paragraphs and it was making Kurt itch.

Blaine got up and started making some lunch for them while his fiancé sat on the couch and worked through the document, making it to his standards. Blaine made them chicken sandwiches using shredded chicken from the night before.

On his sandwich be layered on Mayo and lettuce with his chicken. On Kurt's he put lettuce and tomatoes. He put the two sandwiches on two different plates and added some baby carrots to the plates. He then poured both of them some iced tea and brought the plates and cups into the living room.

As they had worked through their research they had been throwing the used papers onto the ground so while there was a mess on the ground the coffee table was looking a little more clean. He placed their lunch on the coffee table and turned to Kurt.

Kurt was deeply engrossed in the IPad. He had his tongue sticking slightly out and he was making little noises to himself. Blaine poked Kurt with his foot while he cuddled up on the couch. Kurt looked up from the IPad and Blaine gestured toward the food sitting on their coffee table.

Kurt set the IPad down and grabbed his just and Blaine did. They ate in silence for a few minutes before Kurt gestured to the IPad sitting on the couch next to him.

"I put all the things we need to talk about into a table so we can put notes next to them when we've talked about them. I also thought we would highlight the things we need help with in one color and things that we couldn't come to any agreement on in a different color."

Kurt blushed a little bit and looked down at the IPad again.

"I kinda already put the things we need help deciding on in green and things we couldn't agree on in yellow."

Blaine smiled and leaned over to give his fiancé a kiss on the cheek.

"I like it. It sounds like a good idea. Makes things easier to find and I know you and Sarah are the ones going to be looking at it more anyway."

Kurt stuck his tongue out at Blaine and resumed eating his sandwich. Once they were both finished eating and drinking their tea Blaine got up and put the dishes in the sink. He was just going to leave them in there but Kurt shouted to just put them into the dishwasher so they wouldn't have to deal with them later.

Blaine rolled his eyes but rinsed everything off quickly and put them away in the dishwasher. He even put a pellet in and started the load so it would be clean probably before they started dinner. With the dishes started Blaine walked back into the living room and flopped onto the couch.

"Blaine!"

Blaine grinned. His flopping caused some of the papers on the floor to fly up and scatter around more and spread out further in the living room. Making the room more of a mess then it already was. Kurt glared at him a little but they both knew that he wasn't really that mad and that Blaine would help clean it up later so it wasn't as big of a deal.

'OK so I know this is going to be a big thing for us but we should talk about entertainment at the reception and during the ceremony."

Kurt gave him a look and Blaine rolled his eyes at him.

"Music OK. What music do we want to have during the ceremony to start with?"

Kurt smiled and they both dived into their piles to pull out what they had for music ideas. They both pulled out music for the ceremony as well as music ideas for the reception. Once they both had found their ideas and information Kurt spoke up first.

"So I was thinking for the ceremony we could just a piano player. Just something simple for us to walk down the aisle with in the background. Side note we need to decide if we are walking down the aisle and how we plan on doing that."

Kurt picked up the IPad and added a line to the table noting that he needed to talk about their ceremony more, specifically the aisle. Blaine nodded and let Kurt finish typing before he spoke up about Kurt's idea.

"I like the idea of keeping is simple. And I like the piano as well. Maybe we could have one of our friends play it?"

Kurt nodded and Blaine continued.

"And I also agree that we needed to discuss the ceremony more but maybe with Sarah so she can give us pointers and ideas?"

Kurt nodded and highlighted the new line in green and set the IPad aside again. Blaine nudged him though.

"You should put down the information for the music for the ceremony too."

Kurt nodded quickly and typed up the information.

"OK so music for the reception now."

Blaine nodded and grinned.

"So obviously I think we need so sort of karaoke or some time when our friends can sing and so can we."

Kurt grinned and nodded.

"I agree with that but can I suggest we get a DJ instead of a live band? I think they cost less, though don't quote me on that, and that gives us more options for what they can play."

Blaine hesitated and bit his lip. He had wanted a live band but it did make sense to have a DJ. Blaine nodded.

"OK but we need to have karaoke or something so our friends can sing. If we can't find someone willing to do that we'll have to have one of our friends plug in their IPods."

Kurt hesitated but nodded, they would have to find someone because he could only imagine what their friends would play at their wedding. He typed into the google document their plan and set it aside again, he should have just bookmarked everything on the IPad so he didn't have to keep switching back and forth between it and paper.

"OOOKay so…. The wedding party?"

Kurt laughed a little at how hesitant Blaine sounded about their next topic but smiled and nodded at his fiancé.

I want Jeff to be my best man. It's only fair because I got to be his and maybe Elliot for my other attendant?"

"Kurt. What about… don't you want-"

"No Blaine I've told you before I don't want to talk about it!"

Kurt looked angry and Blaine knew he needed to drop the subject if he didn't want Kurt to storm out of the room. Blaine knew Kurt had an issue with his family. He even knew why Kurt had problems but that didn't mean that Blaine didn't want his fiancé to make up with his family.

He sighed. He knew Kurt and knew that unless the subject was dropped Kurt would walk out of the room and into his office, slamming the door behind him, and Blaine wouldn't be able to talk to him till right before bed and even then Kurt would be stilted and angry.

"OK so I want Wes as my best man and Nick as my other attendant. I was also thinking maybe having Dani as another attendant if you wanted to have three instead of two?"

He looked at Kurt under his eyelashes and bit his lip. He wasn't sure how Kurt would react to that but he knew that it would defiantly make Kurt forget about him bringing up his family.

Kurt bit his lip, worrying it a little. If he was going to have another attendant it would have to be a girl to balance out the two of their attendants. Oddly enough Kurt didn't have many female friends. Since high school he really hadn't made that many friends except Blaine and Blaine's friends.

He had met a few people at the theater but most of them were just casual acquaintances that he saw when he volunteered there. The exception being Elliot and Dani who also volunteered there and who, honestly, Kurt connected with because of Blaine.

Blaine invited them over for dinner after the four of them volunteered together with the teens putting on the play. Once at their house Kurt connected more with Elliot and they got to be friends. He also got to be friends with Dani but Blaine talked with her more as they were both performers and teachers of music. Elliot was also a performer but he was also interested in the fashion field and they often talked about that.

Kurt continued to think who could be his other attendant. Did he really have any other close friends besides ones that were also Blaine's? Well he did have the girls he worked with at the boutique. He was actually friends with them and they talked but Blaine hadn't really met any of them except for the few times he swung by Kurt's work.

"I could ask Kitty if she would be willing to be my third attendant."

Blaine looked at his fiancé. Honestly Blaine had expected him to say no because he did know that Kurt didn't really have any of his own friends but Blaine had brought it up hopping that maybe Kurt would contact _someone_ from high school.

That plan obviously backfired. Blaine had heard Kurt talk about Kitty, he knew that Kitty worked with Kurt at the boutique but he had never really met the girl.

"Wait is she the skinny one with the blond hair always in a pony or the darker haired one who is much more friendly?"

Kurt smirked a little. Kurt worked at a smallish bridal boutique that was owned by a bigger designer, Unique Adams. The boutique was small but sot after because it did have designs done by an up-and-coming designer but this particular boutique had less expensive gowns.

The store only had four employees, himself, Kitty, Marley, and Katie. He, Kitty, and Marley worked with the brides and their bridesmaids to find gowns, the brides and the bridesmaids, and helped to fit them. Kurt did a lot of the tailoring but both Kitty and Marley knew how to fit the gowns so Kurt could tailor them later. Katie was the manager and handled the money and stock.

They also had another girl, Bree, who came in to help Kurt tailor when things got really busy. Kurt had made the most connection with Kitty because he was snarky and a little crazy. She reminded a bit of Santana when he let himself think about it. He was friends with Marley as well but she was shyer and she tended to hang out with Katie more.

"Kitty is the blond who tries to flirt with you every time you come in."

Kurt grinned sweetly at his fiancé. Blaine blushed a little and shook his head.

"OK so we'll have to talk with everyone and see if they are willing and if so we have our attendants."

Kurt nodded and brought up the next thing.

"What about a flower girl and ring bearer?"

"uhhh…"

Neither of them really knew any kids that would be the correct age to be flower girls or a ring bearer. Their friend David had a little girl with his wife but she was only six months old and wouldn't be old enough, really, to be a flower girl. They looked at each other and bit their lips for a while.

"OK I have an idea."

Blaine spoke up after a few minutes of silence.

"What if we had one of our younger friends do both jobs? Or we could find two younger friends and them each take one job. I know they would technically be to old but our other option is to just forget them.

Although…"

They both looked at each other for a moment and thought about it. Depending on how they actually wanted to have their wedding go it might be better to not have a flower girl or a ring bearer. Kurt suddenly shifted in his seat and sat further upright.

"OK, OK, I have an idea! What if we both walked down the aisle? First you then me, or the other way around, and we each had a flower girl, or boy, walk in front and drop flowers, like is traditional, but they each had different colored petals that matched out suits.

Like if you had a gold vest your flower-dropper would drop gold petals and I had a turquoise vest mine would drop turquoise petals. Then we could each carry the others ring in our pockets so we wouldn't need a ring bearer."

Kurt sounded excited about the idea and Blaine grinned lovingly at him.

"I do like that idea but it think we should discuss it with Sarah and see if we can find two people willing to do that before we officially decide to do that."

Kurt sighed but nodded.

"Ruining my excitement with your rational thought."

Kurt grumbled under his breath. Blaine heard him, though he really didn't think Kurt meant for him not to hear, and laughed. They shared a quick kiss before Kurt input the information into the google doc.

"Soo. That leaves ushers for the wedding party. Umm. We could have Thad and David maybe?"

Kurt bit his lip. Thad he wouldn't mind having as an usher but David had a baby that he would probably want to show off before the wedding so he wouldn't be the best choice.

"What about Cooper instead of David? You know that he's gonna be angry that he wasn't included in the wedding party."

Blaine rolled his eyes.

"No Cooper we'll forget that he's supposed to be doing something for the wedding and just talk about himself. But I do think maybe David wouldn't be the best choice."

They both thought about it for a while before Kurt mad a suggestion.

"What about Jeff's friend Jake? We've both met him a few times and I know you and he talk sometimes about dancing and he lives in town unlike some of the other Warblers."

Blaine nodded but check to make sure that Kurt was OK with having someone who wasn't his best friend in the wedding party. Kurt replied that he was fine with it as long as Blaine was and he thought Jake could do it.

'OK so we'll have to ask everyone if it's OK for them to be in our wedding party but that should wrap that up."

Kurt typed all their choices into the google doc and shared it with those people they wanted in their wedding party. Kurt smirked, they were going to be surprised if they read their emails before they got a change to call their friends.

"OK so the next thing I have on this list is an officiant. Since neither of us are religious I thought we could just ask Sarah for a list who would be willing to do our ceremony."

Blaine nodded, he had been thinking along the same line and liked that he and Kurt were in sync on this. Kurt typed it into their doc and they moved on.

"Next. Did we want any other entertainment other than the DJ and karaoke?"

Blaine thought about it for a moment before shaking his head.

"No I think just that dancing and maybe a slideshow should be ok. I mean we could ask Jeff and Jake to put together a dance or two with us or some of the other guys but honestly I think we're good otherwise."

Kurt nodded.

"K so next. Obviously I'm going to be making our tuxedoes. The guys, though, will have to buy or rent theirs, same with the girls and their dresses. I can only make so much clothes in the limited time and I already have the base for the two of us so I should be able to do ours."

Blaine nodded and grinned, of course Kurt wanted to make their suits. Blaine wasn't going to complain or suggest otherwise, he knew Kurt would do a good job and he also knew that Kurt would listen to him for advice for the style and fit.

"hmmm OK so all that we have left to talk about for now is save-the-dates, invitations, transportation, hotels, the honeymoon, and our wedding parties look. I think we should have them here to decide what look their going to have and I don't think we need any transportation because we have those two extra rooms at the conservatory to get ready in. What do you think though?"

Blaine nodded.

"I like the idea of waiting for everyone to see before picking clothes and I also think your right about transportation. So save-the-dates and invitations we'll have to look at what someplace offers. That leaves hotels for out-of-town relatives and the honeymoon.

I'm not worried about the hotels because we don't have that many people coming and we aren't planning on having the wedding on a day that hotels are going to be booked but we can see who is planning on coming and tell them to reserve a hotel room right away. As for the honeymoon…"

Blaine crawled forward on the couch to start kissing Kurt. Kurt laughed but it soon turned into a moan when Blaine kissed him exactly where he liked it. Things started to get heated and Kurt shoved Blaine away.

"Bedroom."

They had gotten through pretty much all that Sarah asked them to look at before their next meeting so the two of them left the mess in the living room and ran to their bedroom.


	8. Chapter 8

_I'm going to apologize now for any errors in how things work. I don't have any personal knowledge with any of this, past, or future events taking place and i really didn't do much research sooo... Sorry if i'm giving out misinformation!_

 _also i got into contact with xxDharmagrlxx and we agree that our stories have similar summaries but our stories really aren't as similar as they might seem (and i suggest reading her story, i just started it and its really interesting)_

 _i might also start uploading chapters daily because my schedule is a little strange and i'm worried i might forget one day... so we'll see..._

* * *

 **Past**

Kurt woke up when light from boarded up windows and doors all over the building shown into his eyes. Kurt stretched and groaned as his body ached. He got up and stretched his body to loosen himself up and hopefully relive some of the ache in his body.

Once he stretched as much as he could without hurting himself Kurt decided to explore a little. The room he was in now was mostly empty and dark. It was small and a little cramped. Along the walls were shelves in different state of affairs. Some were still in decent shape while others were falling apart and were barley recognizable as a shelf.

The wall that obviously separated the back from the front had an opening that led to the front. There wasn't a door but upon investigation there was hinges that suggested there was once a door. On the opposite side of the room was a ladder that lead up to the second story of the building.

Kurt went through the door first to look at the front of the store. The front of the store was just as empty and small as the back. The front had a counter against the wall that separated the front from the back. Otherwise the front was empty. There was windows and a door all boarded up sloppily but other than dust and some random garbage there wasn't anything in the front.

Kurt did test one of the boards and found that though it looked sloppy it was nailed down hard and wouldn't be removed easily. Then he went back to the back and went to the ladder.

Surprisingly it was made of medal and firmly grounded in the floor and in the second floor so it didn't wiggled when Kurt tried to shake it. He took a deep breath and started to climb up the stairs. The stairs led up to an opening in the floor and Kurt had to hoist himself up onto the second floor.

Once up Kurt realized that his was an apartment for however probably ran the business down below. This section of the apartment was the bedroom. There was still a bedframe and even a plastic mattress still in the room. There was also an old dresser that was missing a drawer but when Kurt pulled on one of the others it slid in and out easily.

Nothing else was in the bedroom and it was even smaller than the back room of the store below. This section of the building had a door and Kurt carefully swung it open. On the other side of the door was a kitchen and living/ dining area. A table was still in the center of the open area but it had no chairs.

The kitchen didn't look in bad shape at all. There was a fridge, stove and oven, sink, and cabinets both above and below the counters. Seeing that all the doors were still on the cabinets Kurt went to check if there was anything still inside anything.

First he checked the fridge and, thankfully, didn't find anything. He did find one small pan in one of the cabinets and a wooden spoon wedged behind a drawer. He put them on the counter and moved back down the stairs. He then grabbed his bag and hid, well ok hid is a relative term, in the biggest cabinet.

He grabbed wallet and a water bottle before going back down the stairs. He carefully looked out the opening in the door and didn't see anyone outside so he carefully walked out of the building.

With the morning light shining the neighborhood didn't look as bad as Kurt had first thought. There wasn't any people in the area and the one shop that was open only had a wooden open sign sitting outside the shop and no people.

Kurt knawel on his lip a little bit. He knew that he needed food but he didn't want to go too far away from his building. He was calling it his building because he would probably be living there until he really figured out what he wanted to do. He took a deep breath and started to walk in the direction that he was chased from and what he assumed would be more people and businesses.

It took more than a few blocks, Kurt was very carefully keeping track of where he was going so he wouldn't get lost and so he could get back to his building, before he saw any improvement in the buildings and state of stores. Slowly there seemed to be more stores open and in business and there slowly became more people and cars.

He turned a random left, well OK it wasn't random he just tired of going straight and he figured he would remember the cross street Lima Rd. Walking a few more blocks led Kurt to a suddenly higher end area, higher end being more expensive clothing stores and restaurants.

He was just walking around when someone shouted. Kurt didn't think he ran into the nearest alleyway, terrified that someone was going to come after him. He stayed pressed against the wall of a few minutes before relaxing. That was when he realized he was in the alley of a restaurant and their dumpster was open.

No. Kurt Hummel was not going to go dumpster diving for food. Not today at least. He turned and walked back the way he came, back to the main road he was previously walking on and the road his building was on further down.

He hesitated while walking and walked into one of the buildings that was open. Maybe they would need someone to work for cheap for them? He didn't even get to shut the door when the lady behind the counter started shouting at him.

"Get out! Get out! We don't need no help from no nobody teens runnin' from home!"

She reached behind her and grabbed a baseball bat and Kurt ran. He ran all the way back to his building and hid in the alley. He sat there panting before getting up. He looked around and, seeing no one, climbed back into his building and climbed up the latter to the apartment.

He grabbed his bag and pulled on his sweatshirt and curled up onto the dusty gross mattress. Then he cried. He cried for all that he had lost. He cried because he didn't have a chance here. And he cried because he didn't know what to do, he just didn't know what to do at all.

He spent the rest of the day curled up on the bed and crying. When his tears ran dry he just lay there and thought about everything that was wrong. When his stomach grumbled uncontrollably he ate small amounts of what he had packed.

He watched as the light slowly faded from the room and wondered how his family was handling his disappearance. He spent all day thinking and realizing that his old life was over. All day he processed that he could never go back and he could never have that life back.

He fell asleep again with tears running down his face and the realization that he could never see his father or family again if he wanted them to stay safe. He didn't know what he was going to do now but he knew now that the only thing he could do was survive.


	9. Chapter 9

_This chapter is a tiny bit different, after the break (ok fanfiction hates me and won't consistently keep the break in so hopefully you notice when things change...) the point of view will change but it will stay in the present ;P_

* * *

 **Present**

When Kurt and Blaine met with Sarah they sat down and made all the decisions they needed to. Sarah found then a few photographers and helped them chose what ones they liked best so they could meet with them and then decide. She did the same with DJ's, caterers, and an officiant.

She also talked them through flowers at the reception until they both agreed on seeing what the conservatory would offer and then making a final decision. She walked them through how they wanted their ceremony to go. When she heard their ideas she agreed that most of them would work but she wanted to know if they had people do be their "flower throwers", as they had been calling them?

They actually did have two younger people willing to be their "flower throwers". Blaine's cousin had two 12 year old twin girls that were willing to be in the wedding and who lived in Pennsylvania so they could come up for fittings.

Sarah made them make a timeline for the ceremony and the reception. It took them about an hour to figure everything out and work out all the timing. Then she booked meetings with everyone they needed to meet for the next two days and told them that after seeing the options they needed to decide who they liked best and book them. Then she gave them more homework.

"OK so next you needed to find invitations that you like and order them to be ready two months before the wedding. Find, order, and send out save-the-date cards. The save-the-date cards don't have to be supper fancy and can just be printed from the computer. Only send save-the-date cards to people you are sure you are going to invite.

You also need to find and commission the dresses and suits for your wedding party. I also saw that Kurt you are making you and Blaine's tuxedoes so don't forget to make and fit those. And also relating to your wedding parties clothing don't forget to buy, or have them buy, shoes.

You will also need to find and order a cake for the reception. A few other things to remember is to book a honeymoon and to register wherever for your guests to buy you things."

Kurt jotted down what they needed to do and they made another appointment with Sarah in four days so she could help book their choices. They left and went home.

Over the next two days the two of them met with a few different people and venders and made a choice which ones they preferred and who they wanted to book. Sarah called them the day before they were meeting and said to meet her at the conservatory.

Today they were meeting with the wedding and event manager of the conservatory to work out final arrangements, meet with the caterer that they offered, and look at their flower arrangements.

Overall their meeting went well and they decided to use the conservatories caterer, however, they still had an argument over the flowers. The conservatory did have fresh cut flower center pieces but Kurt still didn't want to use them. Blaine still did want flowers at the reception because they were at a conservatory and he wanted some of the flowers to carry over from the ceremony to the reception. The event manager actually helped them come up with a compromise.

"What if we took some ivy that grows fine in water and we put it in vases and used that as center pieces? Then we could add in maybe one yellow rose or another flower that you are using for the wedding party. This way we have some fresh flowers for Blaine but we aren't cutting many flowers for Kurt."

Kurt and Blaine looked at each other and discussed if they liked the idea. They did decide to go with those centerpieces and they chose the vase they wanted them to go in. They also made choices on table cloths, dishes, and other decorations for both the reception and ceremony.

They spent about three hours at the conservatory making decisions about the wedding. They would need to meet again about a month before the wedding to be sure that all they information correct and make any last minute changes.

They also made reservations for the day before the wedding to have a rehearsal. They would have to it after another ceremony but the manager said they were having their reception at another location so everyone would be gone from the area so they wouldn't be disturbing anyone.

Once everything was decided the three of them left and met again the next day. Meeting the next day Sarah booked everything for them and check in with them about their homework which they admitted they hadn't started on because they were meeting with venders.

With the wedding five months away Sarah scheduled to meet with them again in a month but told them that she would keep up to date on their google doc and they should call her if they had any questions. They left her office and worked on getting their homework done.

Within the next week they booked a honeymoon in France. They found and ordered a simple two tier wedding cake, the baker even had two grooms topper that they would put on. They even sent out simple save-the-dates to the people they were defiantly inviting.

Today they were going to Unique Bridal, where Kurt worked, to look at bridesmaid and flower thrower's dresses with the girls in their wedding party. They were having a private appointment with, well, Marley with specific instructions that they were, Kurt and Kitty, not to act as consultants and were there as grooms.

Blaine's little cousins and their mom was there as well as Kitty and Dani. Marley showed them to a viewing area by the dressing rooms where the ladies could leave their purses then she showed them to the stock room with the bridesmaid dresses. Marley smiled at them and smirked a little.

"OK so your wedding colors Kurt said were gold and brown with turquoise, yes?"

Kurt and Blaine nodded.

"OK so-"

Marley stopped. She was about to explain the system how the dresses were arranged and how to see if a dress came in a specific color.

"Never mind, you two know how everything works. Do you have an idea what you want for styles at all?"

Everyone turned to Kurt, including Blaine who knew what he and Kurt had discussed before. Kurt rolled his eyes but explained his and Blaine's idea to everyone.

"We were thinking long dresses in the same style but different colors for the bridesmaids verses our "flower throwers"."

Everyone nodded.

"What colors were you thinking and with or without straps?"

Marley asked as everyone slowly started looking through some of the longer dresses. Blaine answered for the two of them his time as Kurt seriously started looking at the dresses.

"We really didn't have a plan for that and wanted the opinion of our wedding party. Kurt and I are having vests in turquoise and gold respectively so we thought maybe brown but then we didn't have another color so we were going to see how everyone looked in different colors before deciding.

As for straps we thought maybe straps because of the younger girls but we realize that a lot of longer dresses are strapless so that will also depend on how it looks. Sorry we really don't have a plan."

Marley laughed a little but she started to look at dresses. They went through a few and selected four that Kurt and Blaine liked for each of them to try on. Kurt, Blaine, and the twin's mom sat on the couch while Marley helped everyone into each different dress. That was interesting because she was running between four dressing rooms. Kurt and Kitty both volunteered to help but she hushed them and put the twins in the same room to cut down on the running.

The four of them came out at the same time and they all discussed the pros and cons of all three dresses. Kurt and Blaine couldn't decide on any of them so Kurt and Marley went back to grab four more dresses to try on.

Out of the next four everyone liked a flowing strapless dress. It came in the correct brown color but neither Kurt nor Blaine knew what other color they wanted that would match and none of their wedding party really had any ideas either. It was actually Marley, in the end, who came up with an idea for them.

"So this dress is obviously the favorite."

She indicated the dress that was on Kitty.

"What if instead of having two different colors you added a strap to this for the twins?"

Kurt got up and grabbed some fabric that the store always had lying around for changes such as these. He went through and showed different possible straps he could add to the dress for the twins while everyone gave their input.

In the end they did decide to add a sleeve to Natalie and Liz's, the twins, dresses. Each of the girls ordered their dresses, and got a discount because both Kitty and Kurt worked there, and Kurt and Blaine checked another thing off their list of things to do.

Time passed quickly after that. Kurt and Blaine worked full time and planned for the wedding. Kurt worked on their tuxes and tailored the girl's dresses at work when they came in.

They went to another store to get the guy's suits and decide on a style. They had wanted to have the guys have brown vests but when they looked at them they decided that the brown was to rustic looking. Instead the guys got grey pants and vests with a white shirt and a brown bowtie.

Most of the guys just bought the vest and pants because they could wear it again and they had a shirt already. Kurt volunteered to make the bowties for the groomsmen. Blaine argued that he already had enough on his plate with making their tuxes but Kurt said he could do them quickly and they were easy to make so Blaine let him.

The wedding planning continued as time went on and they met wish Sarah some more. They finalized vendors and purchased other things for the wedding party and wedding. Two months before the wedding they sent out invitations to the people they wanted at the wedding and started another google doc to track who would be attending and their menu choice.

Kurt gave everyone access to the document so they could mark themselves if they were going and see who else was attending, mostly they did this so they people could just mark if they were attending instead of calling or sending a letter back.

Everything was going well and as they planned as far as Kurt knew but Blaine had a secret. He worried about Kurt finding out, because was the point was that he would but he was worried he would find out before the wedding.

Blaine was worried and anxious that Kurt would find out but he knew that he couldn't outwardly show it or Kurt would be suspicious. Instead he worked on planning the wedding with Kurt and making everything else perfect, for both of them but mostly so Kurt would forgive him when he found out about Blaine's secret.

* * *

It had been almost seven years since Burt had seen or heard from his son. They night Kurt disappeared was horrible and Burt hadn't even know till the next day. They had searched and looked for him for months, years even but then they were no longer actively looking for him just having his picture out there.

The police hadn't gotten involved at all and refused to call him a missing person as he clearly stated in his letter that he was leaving. So Kurt was never considered missing and Burt and his family and friends, and Kurt's friends and Carol's family, put up filers and searched for him.

They never found him and Burt just always hoped that he was OK and not dead somewhere with them never knowing. When Burt went out to get the mail toward the end of July when his life changed.

He went back inside with is mail and sorted through it while Carol made them coffee and eggs for breakfast. Most of the mail was bills and spam. A letter from his mother and another letter from New York from a Blaine Anderson.

He would have thought it was spam but the envelope seemed fancy. He spun it around for a little bit thinking it might be from Finn or Rachel but that wasn't their address and usually they called or sent an email. Carol came up to Burt and placed their breakfasts on the table.

"Come eat. You can ponder that letter while you drink your coffee."

Burt nodded and sat down at the table. He placed the letter on the table and Carol grabbed it to look at.

"Whose Blaine Anderson?"

She asked as she saw the return address. Burt shrugged.

"I have no idea. Maybe a friend of Rachel or Finn because it's from New York but it's addressed to me so…"

Carol's interest was piqued and she looked at Burt for permission to open the letter. Burt nodded permission and sipped his coffee as Carol opened the letter.

Carol used her butter knife to slice open the letter. She slid out a heavy cardstock paper with another normal sheet of lined paper. She looked at the cardstock first and gasped.

"What, Carol, what does it say?"

Burt tried to look around the cardstock and see what it said but he was sitting on the opposite side of the table as Carol and couldn't see anything. He grunted and grumbled but noticed that Carol was starting to cry. Burt got up and walked to the other side of the table to calm his wife and to see what made her so upset.

When he saw the cardstock he gasped as well and tears started falling from his eyes.

You are invited to attend the wedding of

Kurt Elizabeth Hummel and Blaine Devon Anderson

Thursday September 4th, at 3 PM

New Garden Conservatory

321 E 69th St

New York, New York

Dinner reception to follow

Please RSVP at /RSVPWeddingDOC

Both of them sat and cried silently for a few minutes before either of them could talk. Carol's hand shook as held the invitation. Burt was gripping her chair tightly as he cried.

It was then that he saw the lined paper that Carol was holding in her other hand. Burt gently took it from her and opened it so both of them could read it.

Dear Mr. Burt Hummel and family,

I know that you have no idea who I am but I am Blaine Anderson, your son, Kurt's, fiancé. We met about six years ago and having been dating almost as long. I wanted to formally invite you to our wedding.

Kurt has no idea that I am doing this. He loves you all very much and I know why he hasn't contacted you at all since he ran away seven years ago but that is his story to tell. I want you to be there and I want you to reconnect with your son.

I have no idea if this letter and invitation will get to you because I only just found your old address on Kurt's old drivers license from when he was a teenager. If you do get this Kurt does want you there and he does still love and thing of you very much but now he is too scared to talk to you after all this time.

Feel free to come to the wedding, I hope you will, I'm going to secretly arrange for you to have a place at the ceremony and reception so please don't put anything on the RSVP document instead email me at: BlaineAnderson_wedding

Please email me if you can make it and how many people you are coming with. I know that Kurt has a step-mom as well as a step-brother and both of them are welcome to come with you. If Finn has a significant other at this point I would also invite her to come as well.

I really do hope to see you there and although Kurt might be a little angry at first he really does want to there as well.

Hope you can make it,

Blaine Anderson

They sat there in silence for so long, neither of them was keeping track of time thought. They were both breathing heavily and crying not as silently now.

"Oh my god. Kurt. Kurt is OK and living in New York."

Carol spoke with a shaky voice but she smiled and smiled up at Burt. Burt returned the shaking smile with tears in his eyes. His son was alive and well. God he was so happy.

Carol and Burt shared a kiss before staring back at the invitation and letter. Carol then suddenly pulled out her phone and called Finn. He worked as a mechanic in New York while his wife, Rachel, worked on Broadway in minor rolls.

The phone rang three times before Finn picked up.

"Mom, hi. I'm a little busy right now, Lilly's still getting ready for daycare and Rachel isn't ready yet."

Carol shook her head and smiled a little more at the mention of her three year old granddaughter.

"Finn as much as I would like to say yes I need to tell you this now but you might want to get Rachel first."

Finn scratched his head, not unlike his step-father does, and went down the hall into his and Rachel's bedroom. Lilly was still in her room choosing an outfit but Finn left their door open so they would hear if she left or called for them.

Rachel was still getting dressed when Finn walked in. She was only wearing yoga pants and a sports bra and sorting through a few exercise shirts. While Finn would love to take advantage of the situation his mom was on the phone still and their daughter was just across the hall.

Finn coved the mouth piece of the phone and tapped Rachel on the shoulder.

"Rachel my mom called and she wants to talk to us."

Rachel turned and glared at her husband. He knew that she had a very precise schedule that she kept in the morning that was only to be interrupted in the most dire of circumstances. She was about to yell at him when she saw the phone still in his hand.

She went to grab it but Finn lifted it above her head and turned the phone onto speaker phone and spoke with the phone still up in the air so Rachel couldn't reach it.

"OK mom we're both here what's up?"

Carol took a deep breath and squeezed Burt's hand.

"I. We. We got invited to a wedding-"

"Not to be rude Carol I love you but we are in a bit of a rush so whose wedding were you invited to that was so important?"

Finn glared at this wife but Rachel ignored him and impatiently tapped her foot.

"Kurt's. Kurt's wedding. We were all invited to Kurt's wedding."

Finn's eyes bugged out and he dropped his hands. Rachel was just as surprised and stared at her husband for a moment before grabbing the phone from him.

"What!? When. When, oh my god. Where is he? Why hasn't he called? Oh my god."

Finn was still paralyzed and hadn't moved all he could thing was that his brother was alive. Carol shouted on the other side of the phone causing Rachel to shut up and Finn to snap out of his daze.

"Well Kurt didn't invite us to the wedding his fiancé, Blaine, did."

Silence filled Finn and Rachel's side of the line and Carol happily babbled on.

"And they live in the city! Or his mailing address is in the city, New York City that is, and they are getting married at a conservatory there. And-"

Finn interrupted his mother.

"Wait he's been in the same city as us this entire time and we haven't seen him?"

He looked a Rachel a little broken, sad, angry. Rachel shook her head and placed a hand on her husband's arm. She spoke softly to him but Carol and Burt both heard her.

"Finn, New York City is huge and the chance of just running into him randomly would be almost impossible."

She gave him a soft smile and Finn attempted to return it but Rachel could tell it was forced. Finn asked his mother a question in a little defeated voice.

"What do you want us to do? Do you want us to look for him or…?"

"No, no. We got a letter from his fiancé saying that he is secretly inviting us so that we can reconnect but he doesn't want Kurt to find out. We just wanted to call you and let you know what we found out and to ask if you wanted to come to the wedding so we can email his fiancé how many of us are coming."

Finn and Rachel didn't even look at each other before responding, in sync.

"Of course."

"Yes."

Carol and Burt laughed a little and smiled through the tears still rolling down their faces.

"OK I'll email him four then? You'll have to get a babysitter for Lilly."

Finn and Rachel nodded then agreed so Carol knew they had heard her and agreed.

"I'll text you the details or you can see them yourself when you come down to visit us next week."

"Can you text it to me so I can get it in our calendars ASAP?"

Carol confirmed that she could do that and they could still look at the invitation and letter from Kurt's fiancé when they visited.

"OK mom I'd love to talk more and I will call you later tonight but we have to go now."

"OK love you."

"Love you to. Bye."

"Bye."

They hung up and all four of them smiled. Kurt was alive and well enough to be getting married. They were finally going to see Kurt again after seven years.


	10. Chapter 10

_sorry this one is super short but i'll put up the next chapter as well ;) also this is just about the halfway point (21 chapters in total) and i'm going to kinda apologize if this start to be a little weird or too fast. i was starting to get kinda fed up with writing but i wanted to push through so... i think it's ok but just in case everyone starts noticing it..._

* * *

 **Past**

The next day Kurt decided he couldn't mope. He needed to forget, or at least bury, his old life and he needed to embrace his new life. He pushed as much as he could away and hid it in a tight box in his head.

For the next few days Kurt ate the little food he had brought with him and went into any open shop he could find. They all reacted about the same with varying degrees of force. A few times the owner was closer and they physically shoved or threw him out of their shop.

He had a few bumps and bruises but it wasn't any worse than what had happened at school, _not thinking about it_. He kept going into new stores in the "bad" part of town to see if he could get a job. No one even talked to him but needed to keep trying and he couldn't go into a better part of town because he didn't have enough information to get a real job.

When his food finally ran out Kurt did what he had to. He found a dumpster and was lucky. In the dumpster, which was behind a grocery store, he found three cans of expired chili and a box of expired just add water mashed potatoes.

He ran back to his building with his food and hid it in the cupboard. The next few days continued again in the same matter. Wandering to find open shops to ask for a job, getting kicked or thrown out, and then eating as little as he could to still survive.

He continued to live this way, finding food in the dumpster and looking for work, for two months before he ran into someone else. It was someone about his age he was thin but bulky and taller than Kurt. He looked well fed.

Kurt was coming back from the dumpster with two more cans and some stale bread when he saw him. Kurt tried to ignore him but when he turned down a less busy street the guy suddenly jumped him.

First he shoved Kurt down by pushing him in the back. Kurt caught himself but everything he was carrying scattered. He scrambled back up only to get punched in the gut. He grunted and curled over himself.

Then he got punched in the face. He spit blood on the ground and was suddenly kicked just above his groin. Then he dropped down on the ground. The guy kicked him in the gut again and Kurt tried to get up which only got him kicked again.

When he didn't try to get back up again from another punch the guy grabbed the food Kurt found in the dumpster and took off. He winced and wheezed and finally got himself back up. He shuffled back to his building and into the alley.

He barley remembered to check for people watching before he clambered into the building and collapsed inside. He lay there on the ground for a few minutes before he blacked out.

When Kurt came to again it was dark outside. There wasn't any light coming from the doorway or from any of the other boarded up windows or door. He hurt everywhere. Most of all though his stomach and gut area hut. His face also throbbed but he needed to check on his stomach.

He lifted his shirt and looked down at his stomach. There was bruises everywhere but it didn't look like he had broken any ribs, not that he really would know if he did. He couldn't tell if he had any internal bleeding but he had his appendix out years ago so that didn't burst.

He stumbled and dragged himself up and climbed the latter up to the apartment. Upstairs he collapsed again on the bed and just lay there. He wasn't tired and he didn't think he was going to black out again so he just stared up at the ceiling.

He stayed inside on the bed for a few days. Only getting up to use the bathroom and getting water from a spigot he found behind the building. When this stomach ached with hunger too much to ignore any longer Kurt got up and left the building.

He slowly walked to the dumpster again and found an entire case of expired green beans. He grabbed the box and carefully made his way back to his building. He made sure to go a different way back than he did the other day. He made his way back to the building. He made there and into the building without a problem.

That was Kurt's life now. He stopped looking for a job when he realized that he had gone to all the shops in the area and they had thrown him out. Now he went to the dumpster for food and hid in his building. He only came out to find food and get water and even that he started hording in the pot he found.

A few times he got beat up and lost his food. When he did get beat up he recuperated a few days in his bed before having to get up again. He stopped being hungry as much but he knew he had to eat. He lost a lot of weight and stopped keeping track of time passing.

He forgot who he was and became someone different. He became one of the homeless people on the street.


	11. Chapter 11

**Present**

The wedding planning quickly sped up after invitations went out. Surprisingly it was fairly easy for Blaine to squeeze in four extra seats at the reception. Blaine told Kurt they were for some out of town relatives that should show up but he hadn't seen them in a while. Blaine didn't actually say they were _his_ relatives but Kurt assumed and Blaine felt bad about it.

He tried not to let the guilt consume him by telling himself that it was for Kurt's own good and for his family. He tried but it really didn't work. Kurt noticed and asked if he was OK a few times but Blaine just said it was anxiety for the upcoming wedding and having all his relatives together.

Kurt didn't really believe him but he was busy planning the wedding and put it off to ask him again after the wedding and honeymoon. They were both busy and working toward finishing planning the wedding. For being busy they were surprisingly calm and put together. They had a few bumps in the planning but they always came up with a plan B and went with it.

The week before the wedding was insanity. With both of them working full time plus finishing wedding prep they barely had time to talk to one another or sleep. They made it work though and finished got everything done with the help of Sarah and their friends.

"OK I have the final schedule for the wedding if you want to look over it."

They were sitting in the living room going over final details two days before the wedding. Blaine was finalizing timing for the ceremony and into the reception while Kurt was finishing arranging the seating chart for the reception. After that they were making name cards for the reception after that then they were putting together wedding favors for the wedding party and guests.

"Blaine, you still haven't given me the names of those four relatives from out of town that I haven't met."

Blaine looked down guiltily. Should he give fake names to Kurt? Tell him the truth? But if he told him the truth now it would ruin everything and Kurt might call off the wedding, probably not indefinitely but he would defiantly be angry and Blaine for a while. He looked up at Kurt and bit his lip.

"Oh, um. I'll make cards for them tomorrow after I call them to be sure they are coming so we don't do extra work."

He tried to sound nonchalant but he knew that he failed completely. Kurt looked at him for a moment and Blaine thought for sure he was going to call him out on lying but Kurt shook his head and leaned back down over the diagram he was working on.

It didn't make Blaine feel any better. In fact he felt worse for lying to Kurt even more. As soon as he could Blaine was going to come clean and tell Kurt everything. Their relationship was built on trust and by lying Blaine knew he was going to be in huge trouble when he found out.

He worried his lip as he watched Kurt bite the end of his pencil and wrote something down on the diagram. Kurt sat up then and smiled.

"OK I'm done with the seating arrangement I have a spot here."

He pointed to a table on the diagram.

"For your mysterious relatives, if they show. If they don't then Cooper and his girlfriend will have to sit there alone."

Kurt grinned a little. He knew Cooper and sitting alone with only one other person that already knew his stories would be torcher. Blaine bit his lip.

"Um. OK that should work."

Blaine really didn't want his first meeting with his father-in-law to be tainted by Cooper's personality but he also knew that Kurt probably was sitting them together as family sitting together and so he could watch Cooper squirm a little.

Kurt looked back and forth between Blaine and his seating chart. He bit his lip and worried it a little.

"Well I could move um-"

Blaine shook his head and grabbed Kurt's hand before he could start rearranging all the people again.

"No Kurt its fine we'll just have to listen to Cooper wine after the honeymoon about where he was sitting but it'll be fine."

He squeezed Kurt's hand and Kurt smiled up at him. They shared a chaste kiss and they both pulled away smiling.

"As much as I would like to continue where this could go we need to make the name cards tonight."

Blaine sighed and pulled away from Kurt. Kurt grabbed the box of name cards from the side of the couch and put it in between them. Then he grabbed the nice black calligraphy pens they bought and handed one to Blaine while keeping the other.

Together they used the seating chart and guest list to create the name tags. Kurt also started making up a cheat sheet so their guests could find where they were sitting without having to circle the entire reception hall.

They worked together for most of the night, they might not have many guests but because they were saving money by not having them printed the writing had to be perfect. They worked mostly silently but every once and awhile they would snicker that one thing or another.

It was two in the morning when they finished except for Blaine's mystery relatives but those name cards where put with the finished ones, as well as a few more extras because Kurt wanted to be careful. They put them all in a different box with one of the pens and put it with the rest of the stuff they had for the wedding day.

They both went to bed exhausted but excited. When they woke up the next morning at ten o'clock they quickly got ready for the long day ahead. Blaine packed an overnight bag with everything he would need for the wedding tomorrow.

Today they were going to go over last minute things with Sarah at her office at one. After that they were going to the conservatory for the rehearsal and then to a nice restaurant for the rehearsal dinner. After that everyone was having a final fitting at their apartment with Kurt and Bree.

Then Blaine would be going to Jeff and Nick's apartment for the night, because Nick spent the night before his wedding at Kurt and Blaine's. As far as Kurt and Blaine knew that was all that was happening today but they knew that their friends could have planned something for after the fitting.

Together they packed everything they needed for the wedding, besides their tuxes and their wedding parties outfits, into their car. They ate lunch at home, simple and light because they both were super excited and had butterflies in their stomachs.

After lunch they got into the car and drove to Sarah's office. Once there they went over everything with Sarah and checked that everything, so far, was in order. Kurt excused himself to use the restroom right before they were about to leave for the conservatory.

Blaine jumped at the chance to talk to Sarah alone. He finally decided that he needed to tell one other person what he had done and he thought that Sarah might be a good choice because she should be aware if Kurt was going to blow up at the wedding, or before or after or at the reception.

"Sarah I need to talk with you really quick before Kurt comes back."

Sarah turned to Blaine who looked nervous and about to faint. These were never good things the day before someone's wedding, especially paired with those words. Sarah didn't get the vibe that Blaine would run but sometimes pressure changes people.

Blaine looked at Sarah, then the direction Kurt had gone and, as quickly as possible, explained to Sarah what he had done and what was going to happen the next day. While Blaine spoke, rather quickly and in a hushed whispered tone, Sarah's eyes grew larger.

She had gotten to know Kurt and she knew that he wouldn't react well. But she also knew that Kurt had a sadness about him whenever Blaine spoke about his family. She hoped that Kurt wouldn't react violently but she figured that most likely Kurt would be angry but then happy.

Kurt came back down the hall and joined the two of them. They took separate cars to the conservatory because Kurt and Blaine's was full and because Kurt and Blaine had plans after the rehearsal dinner, Sarah was coming to that as well.

They got to the conservatory just as the last guests from the previous wedding were leaving. The three of them started organizing the reception room. The tables had already been set up with the linens and chairs. The dishes, as well as the centerpieces, would be put out before the wedding by the conservatory staff and David, who was good with overseeing the final prep of the reception hall instead of being in the wedding party.

Together the three of them prepped the rest of the reception hall. They put up extra decorations and tables for presents, wedding favors, and a table for both a sign in and the name cards with the seating arrangement.

One of the staff people came in a few minutes later with the vases for the centerpieces. She said that they could put them on the tables for placement and they pieces would be made on the tables. So Blaine went around and placed the centerpieces on each table and Kurt decorated the tables how he wanted them.

Each table had a disposable camera on it so the guests could take pictures at the reception instead of only relying on the photographer. Each person was also going to get a gift that Kurt and Blaine had finished making that morning.

They made each person, well they bought and decorated, a white coffee cup and added dishwasher safe paint to the handle to make it into a rainbow. They knew that most wedding favors had the wedding date on them or had the names of the couple on it but they neither of them wanted to give out gifts that people wouldn't really be able to use.

Kurt also made everyone a handkerchief with a bowtie applique sewn into one of the corners. They carefully placed the handkerchief in the mugs with the bowtie end sticking out over the top near the handle so the guest could see both the handle and the bowtie.

They set them all up on a table with a sign asking each guest to take one. They set up the other tables and finished putting together everything else in the reception hall. Next they moved onto the hall where the ceremony was being held.

The decorations for the previous wedding were taken down and Blaine, Kurt, and Sarah started to put up their own. The hall was already mostly put together. The chairs were arranged and a dais was put up at the end of the aisle where the justice of the piece would marry them.

There wasn't much they really had to do decoration wise because Kurt didn't want to mess with the ambiance that was already there. They added a few things and were just finishing when the wedding party started to arrive.

Everyone in the wedding party was supposed to come today, including Thad and Jake. Natalie and Liz's mother was also coming so she could drive her daughters and to help rally everyone.

Once everyone was there Sarah ran everyone through the plan and then they started rehearsing. They needed to change a few things and practice more than a few times before they got it correct. They ran through the entire thing a few more times before they called it good enough for the next day.

Once everyone helped Kurt and Blaine finish up a few things they all left to meet up again at the restaurant. At the restaurant everyone had a good time. They had gotten a private room so they could be louder in celebration.

Once everyone had finished eating they all, except Sarah who had decided to join them, got back into their cars and drove to Kurt and Blaine's apartment. Once at the apartment it was decided, because Bree had a sudden family emergency and couldn't come, that Kitty would help Kurt and the girls would go first so Natalie and Liz could go back to the hotel that they were staying in before it got too late.

"OK I'm gonna start with the twins so Natalie and Liz you can go into the guest room with your mom and get changed."

The three of them walked into the room while everyone else got situated into the living room. Blaine got everyone drinks, nonalcoholic while the twins are still there but the booze would come out after they left. Kurt turned on some music and pulled out his sewing things.

The girls came out and Kurt helped them stand on the coffee table. That made a few of their friends grin, Kurt was pretty picky about some things but mostly they were grinning because it was normally _Blaine_ jumping around on furniture.

"How does everything feel?"

Kurt was walking around the two of them on the coffee table and examining how the dresses fit. The girls already had a final fitting at the boutique but Kurt wanted to be sure everything fit perfectly before the wedding. The girls were smiling as Kitty put up their hair and adding their accessories.

The girls were all going to wear their hair up with a beaded clip. The two flower throwers were going to get baskets of flower petals, fake ones that they were going to donate to the conservatory for future weddings. Dani and Kitty were going to get a four rose bouquet, two red and two yellow roses.

Each of the guys was getting a red and yellow rose boutonniere. Kurt and Blaine were going to have a single white rose boutonniere. Thad and Jake were getting one red and one yellow, Thad was getting the yellow while Jake got the red, rose boutonniere.

"I like it a lot but is it too long?"

Liz asked Kurt mostly so he would stop being so quiet but she really wanted to know. Kurt bit his lip and looked at the dress.

"Are you wearing the shoes for the wedding now?"

"No, I'm not wearing shoes at all but me and Natalie are just wearing flats so will that really make a difference?"

Kurt nodded and grabbed their shoes from in the extra bedroom. He then helped them, with their mom, but their shoes on without getting off the table. It didn't make much of a difference in the length of the dresses but it did a little bit.

Kurt played with the bottom of both their dresses for a moment. He looked at them a little more before deciding what to do.

"OK how about you two walk around the apartment for a few minutes while Dani and Kitty get into their dresses?"

The twins nodded and Kurt and Blaine helped them down to start walking. Dani and Kitty went into the bedroom to get changed. Kurt watched as Liz and Natalie walked around to make sure they weren't tripping. Neither of them seemed to have a problem so Kurt advised them to play around with them, skip or gallop down the hall and make sure they still don't trip.

They agreed and spent the next five minutes running and skipping down the hallway. Natalie tripped once but she didn't fall and said that it wasn't really the dresses fault. After they tired they all ruled, including the guys watching and their mom, that they didn't need the length changed for either of their dresses.

Kurt finished looking over their dresses just as Dani and Kitty walked out of the room with their dresses on. The four of them switched places so the twins could change back into their clothes and Dani and Kitty came into the living room for Kurt's inspection.

This time Kurt only had Dani stand on the coffee table and let Kitty sit on the couch with Jeff and Nick.

"Do not ruin your dress though."

"What do you expect me to do start a three-"

"Kitty."

Kurt stopped her and gave her a glare that made her shut up. He started looking at Dani's dress when Natalie and Liz finished changing. Kurt was going to bring their dresses to the conservatory tomorrow but the rest of the wedding party would be responsible for bringing their own clothes.

Everyone said goodbye to the girls and their mom before they left. As soon as they closed the door behind them Jeff went for the booze.

"Kurt, we know that the two of you would be horribly opposed to going out for a bachelor party so instead we are going to drink and have fun here at your house."

Everyone grinned, including Blaine, and Kurt had to sigh and got out some of his and Blaine's better wine. Kitty huffed and pulled out a bottle of whisky from her purse. Everyone laughed except Kurt who rolled his eyes.

Alcohol was passed out to everyone's preference and the fittings continued. Kitty's and Dani's dresses didn't need any changes, which wasn't surprising because they were fitted at the boutique. The guy's clothes, however, were a different story.

Kurt wanted to fit everyone's plants and dress shirts perfectly but Blaine convinced him that they didn't need to fit _that_ well and that just having the vests fit well will fit the shirts better. Kurt agreed and had each of the guys change one at a time to check the fit of their clothes.

Because Jeff, Nick, Elliot, Wes, Thad, and Jake all knew Kurt they made sure to pick their best fitted pants and dress shirt. Mostly Kurt was OK with the fit of everything. He put a few pins in Jake's shirt to make a better fit and he made Jeff pick a different shirt that wasn't skin tight.

"Jeff you are not allowed to show up to my wedding wearing that shirt. If you do you are fired as my best man and I'll promote Thad."

Jeff gasped and Thad laughed but Jeff told Kurt it was just a joke and had another one he was planning on wearing. Kurt forced everyone to change out of their clothes after they were fitted so only the person being fitted was wearing their wedding clothes.

Wes was the last one undergoing Kurt's inspection and as we went to change Elliot piped up.

"Kurt why don't you and Blaine put on your tuxes so we can see them before the wedding."

Kurt rolled his eyes but he and Blaine went into their room to change into their tuxes. They had both seen them wearing their tuxes and they both agreed that they didn't need to hide their tuxes or them wearing them from the other so they both changed together and came out of their room for everyone to see.

They were both wearing simple black tuxes. Kurt wore a turquoise vest with a matching tie while Blaine wore a gold vest with a matching bowtie. They walked out of their room together, holding hands.

Everyone tooted and hollered when they saw the two grooms. No one was drunk, because they needed to be at the wedding tomorrow, but that didn't mean they couldn't act like they were drunk and have fun. Kitty made a comment about the tuxes fitting perfectly and maybe she should check the fit.

Kurt stuck his tongue out at her and pranced around a little bit while Blaine laughed. They changed back a few minutes later because Kurt was worried about ruining their tuxes.

Once everyone was changed back into their normal clothes Kurt and Blaine gave them each their gifts for being in the wedding party. Each of the guys was getting beer sties with their names on it and a rainbow. The girls, except for the twins, were getting wine glasses with the same design. The twins were each getting a pair of earrings that Kurt and Blaine would give to them at the wedding.

Once they all got their gifts and thanked them the party got started. There wasn't more drinking because everyone needed to be sharp tomorrow but that didn't mean that they didn't play drunk games. They played truth or dare, everyone knowing that Kurt would straight up refuse to talk about his past, well Jake didn't know but while Kurt got up to get something he was filled in.

Everyone was laughing and enjoying themselves but the party broke up around midnight. Blaine mentioned that it was getting late and everyone laughed at him, telling him that he was getting to old if he though midnight was too old. He pointed out that everyone needed to be up early and at the conservatory and they needed to sleep.

Everyone finally agreed and everyone started leaving. Blaine left with Jeff and Nick, making sure to kiss his very soon to be husband and promise to see him tomorrow. Everyone who was left cooed and made kissing noises as they said goodbye but they ignored them and grinned.

Kitty was going to stay with Kurt overnight so he could stay on track, OK so Kurt wasn't likely to get off track but she was there to help calm him down if he started stressing about something. Once everyone but Kitty was gone they didn't even bother to clean up.

They both got changed and went into the two separate bedrooms to sleep. It was almost one AM and they needed to leave the apartment by eight to start getting ready and making sure everything was prepped and ready. That meant that Kurt was waking up around six to shower and prep himself before leaving for the conservatory.

Surprisingly both Kurt and Blaine fell asleep rather quickly. They both thought that the combination of stress, excitement, and being separated would make sleep almost impossible but they had both been staying up late recently and they were so tired that they fell asleep easily.

Tomorrow they would be married and Blaine hoped that Kurt would be reunited with his family.


	12. Chapter 12

**Past**

When things started to get cold Kurt started to worry. He really hadn't packed for cold weather but mostly his building was wind, rain, and hopefully show proof. But the building wasn't heated so while it would protect him from the freezing wind it wouldn't warm him.

He tried looking in other dumpsters for a jacket or other warm things but he hadn't been successful. For now he was doing OK but he would need warmer clothes when winter really set it. He would either have to go to a shelter and hope they had something for him or he would have to keep trying to find something warm.

For now he started collecting food from his dumpster but because he was going to the dumpster more he also got caught more. A few times the people, sometimes they were larger or older men and sometimes they were women with weapons, sometimes they didn't hurt him they just asked for his food and then they left him alone.

As it got colder he encountered more people wanting his food. He tried to hide it better but he looked like someone living on the street now with dirty tattered clothes and unwashed hair. Still he was able to stock pile some food and keep it hidden in this pantry.

Mostly he had canned food, it was most of what he ate anyway, and he also had a few boxes of cereal and another two boxes of mac and cheese. Once and awhile he could find rotting fruit that he would have to eat quickly so they wouldn't rot more. Once he even found some sour milk that he drank, he was sick the next day but he figured he was getting some of the calcium he wasn't normally getting.

He tried to eat even less than before so he could save more but he was already eating as little as he could so there really wasn't much of a difference. He tried looking through other dumpsters as well as the one for the grocery store but none of them really had much of anything good.

When the first snow came Kurt realized just how cold it could get. Mostly he was protected from the wind that accompanied it but the air was still freezing. He stayed in his building all day wrapped up in as many clothes as he could fit on his body.

By morning all the snow was gone but the chill remained. He had to go out to get more food that day, not because he needed it but because he felt he needed more. He went out bundled up as much as possible and went directly to the dumpster.

No one was really on the street and the people that were didn't pay him much mind. He walked quickly and tried not to look at anyone and he didn't notice anyone looking at him.

When he got to the dumpster he quickly looked in it for any expired foods. He found another box of off brand mac and cheese that expired the day before and two cans of pumpkin puree. He also found a half open bag of Halloween candy that didn't seem to be expired so much as opened. All but one brand of candy was missing in the bag so Kurt figured all the ones that people liked got eaten and the rest were thrown out.

He grabbed all of cans, box, and candy and went to exit the alley. Someone was standing there though. He was taller than Kurt and much more bulky. He was obviously much more muscular than Kurt and he probably went to the gym most days. He wasn't wearing ragged and dirty clothes, though, like most of the people living on the street.

He also looked clean and bathed. His clothes were neat and he wore clean jeans without holes and an expensive looking sweater. He was also wearing a sports jacket that looked new. He didn't look like he was going to come after Kurt and still being in the alley would be the best time to jump him or at least demand his haul.

They both just stood there for a few minutes. Then the larger guy camp up to him. Four days ago Kurt had been jumped and he was still hurting so Kurt just dropped the food he was holding and made a bolt for the exit to the alley. He knew that the guy was standing there but he hoped he would lunge for the food and leave Kurt.

He didn't. Instead he lunged in front of Kurt and Kurt stopped. There really wasn't any people around that would hear him scream and this guy was much bigger. He could try and run to the other side of the alley opening but he seemed to move quickly so Kurt didn't think he would make it past him.

The guy put up his hands in a gesture of peace but all Kurt saw was hands going up and he got scared. He made a bolt for the opening but, as expected, the guy jumped in front of him. He grabbed Kurt's shoulders and Kurt tried to fight him off.

"Stop. Stop! I'm trying to help you! Stop!"

Kurt continued to struggle. He really wasn't paying attention to what the man was saying just that he was still firmly gripping him. He struggled more and tried to push the man away but, again as expected, the man was to strong and held Kurt tightly.

"Stop it! Stop it! I'm here to help you! I'm trying to help you! Stop! Stop, OK I want to help you, stop!"

He man punctuated what he was saying by shaking Kurt a little. That made Kurt stop struggling. He was scared he was going to get more than a little hurt now. Most of the guys who beat him up only beat him up enough to get what they wanted but this guy seemed to want more than just the food Kurt found.

He finally looked him in the eye. Kurt was trembling with fear and he didn't try to disguise it in his eyes when he looked up. When he looked up the guy didn't look like he was trying to hurt Kurt he looked sad.

"I'm trying to help you. I want to help but you have to trust me."

This time Kurt was listening. He heard what he was saying but he really couldn't trust him. Whoever this guy was he had already used force on Kurt and he was just a random guy on the street. He might have pushed away most of his past but he wasn't stupid, you don't trust random strangers on the street.

He noticed the guys hands loosened and Kurt took the opportunity to shove him away. He didn't wait to see if the guy stumbled or if he fell Kurt just ran. He ran back to his building, making sure to take a different route back. He checked before going down his alley but then he darted inside the building and climbed up to the apartment.

He stayed up there, again, for the rest of the day. He was scared. No one had approached him before and the only time he ever got beat up was when someone else on the street was looking for food. This man hadn't wanted his food he had wanted Kurt to come with him.

But what was Kurt supposed to do? He didn't know anyone here and he didn't have any money, or the ability, to run back home. He supposed he could go to a police station be they would probably ask for his name and send him home.

Maybe he could go to a shelter and ask them what to do but any time he ran into another person on the street he either got beat up or threatened and he ended up losing the food he collected. That left him with only one option. He would just continue doing what he was doing and he would have to watch out for the guy again and run again if he saw him.

Kurt did go out again the next day though. He didn't run into the guy but he made sure to go out at a different time. The next few days continued like that, Kurt going out every day, he didn't always find food everyday but he found stuff enough to continue looking. He would go out at different times every day to make sure he didn't run into the guy again.

It was about a week after Kurt's run in with the guy when Kurt got his first cold of the season. It didn't start off bad, just a runny nose and a slight cough. He still went out but it was getting colder. He found an old blanket in a dumpster by an apartment building that he used in the apartment.

The day after his cold settled in it snowed and this time it stuck. It was only about three inches of snow but the temperature dropped and Kurt's cold got worse. He started coughing more and his nose was a mixture of running constantly and being clogged all day and night.

He still went out though, he bundled up in all his clothes, everything was so big on him that he fit in all of them at once. It helped him hide some of the food he found in a couple dumpsters. He coughed and sneezed the entire time he was out and it didn't get much better when he got back to the apartment.

When he woke up the next day he could barely breathe. He sat up hoping it would help, it didn't. He was still coughing and his throat felt like he was swallowing nails, when he could swallow because his throat was swollen.

He stayed inside except to use the bathroom and to get lots of water. He sat in his bed and drank water, lots of water. He ate some soup that he had but it wasn't warm and didn't help his throat as much as he remembered it used to.

His cold was worse the next day but he needed to get out. He wrapped himself up more, he had on a few layers already from the day before but now he put on more. He walked outside and shivered more, god it was cold.

He walked to the grocery store dumpster and looked inside hoping for some cold medication or maybe some cough drops. He didn't find any but he did find some old stale bread. He shoved it down into his jacket and turned to go back to the apartment but someone was standing in the alley opening.

It was the same guy from before but this time Kurt didn't have the energy to try and run. A coughing spasm hit him and he curled over trying to contain it or stop it so he could breathe again. It didn't help his breathing and his coughing didn't stop.

Kurt started to see dark blotches in his vision and he realized if he didn't stop coughing right now he was going to pass out. He couldn't get himself to stop coughing. He fell to the cold ground and the last thing he saw before passing out was the guy from the alley opening standing over him.

Kurt just hoped he was getting help and not locked away in a basement somewhere or raped or something. Or maybe he would just get killed. That almost seemed like the best option. And then his family would have some closer and he could finally go home.


	13. Chapter 13

**Present**

The day of the wedding Kurt woke up excited. He jumped out of bed and into the shower. He spent a lot of time in the shower washing his hair and making sure he was _clean_. He used some special body soap that he knew Blaine liked the scent of.

Once he finished his shower he combed out his hair and styled it simply, he didn't use gel or anything because he would have to restyle it again after he changed into his tux. He put on some body lotion and did his morning racial regiment. He put on a pair of comfortable skinny jeans and a fitted sweater.

He finished packing his and Blaine's suitcases for the honeymoon, Blaine's was mostly already packed except for a few things that Kurt threw in. Once he had everything he brought it out to the living room and put it with the other things he needed to grab to bring to the conservatory.

Kitty was up, showered, and cooking breakfast, OK cooking wasn't really the word she was making frozen waffles. She popped two more waffles into the toaster and cut up some strawberries to go on top of them.

She was already eating her toasted waffles with syrup and cut up strawberries. She nodded at him as he took a seat by the counter across from where Kitty was standing. She continued eating but stopped to hand Kurt his waffles and strawberries when they popped up from the toaster.

Kurt added syrup and started to eat. Once the two of them were done they started packing everything into Kitty's car. Kitty was planning on driving Kurt and Blaine to the airport for their honeymoon after the reception so neither Kurt nor Blaine would have to have a car sitting at the airport for two weeks.

They got into the car and drove to the conservatory. They planned for Kurt and Blaine to arrive at different times, because they were doing a few traditional things for their wedding.

First Kurt and Kitty found Sarah and checked in with her to be sure everything was going OK so Kurt could start to get changed. Everything was fine and the other members of the wedding party would be arriving soon to get changed and to help with the prep.

Kurt and Kitty went to Kurt's room to wait for Kurt's other attendants. Kurt's room had an accordion divider in the corner of the room so everyone could get changed. They started to bring everything into the conservatory and put it where it belonged. While they were grabbing the last few things Dani and Elliot arrived, they didn't live together, because they were both gay, but they did live close enough together that they were carpooling.

Elliot went with Kurt and Kitty to Kurt's room while Dani went to find Blaine's room. Once in the room they saw that Jeff was waiting for them and they started to change one by one. Kurt made sure that everyone was ready, including Liz who was going to be Kurt's flower girl.

It took over an hour for everyone to get changed and completely ready. Once everyone was changed they went to a different area of the conservatory that they were going to get some pictures done at. The photographer took pictures of Kurt and his attendants as well as separate shots of Kurt's attendants and Kurt with his different attendants.

It was only about a hour before the wedding and they left the area so Blaine could get pictures done of him and his attendants. After the ceremony they would get more pictures with all of them and pictures of just him and Blaine but they were talking some before the wedding to save time.

Kurt, Kitty, Jeff, Elliot, and Liz went back to Kurt's room to wait. Jeff, as the best man, took it upon himself to entertain everyone. Liz pulled out her cell phone and videotaped some of Jeff's antics before she had to stop because she was laughing so hard. Sarah poked her head into the room and smiled at everyone laughing.

"Kurt. We are about to have everyone settle down into their seats so if you want to straighten yourself up… I'll come poke my head in again when you should get into position."

"Thanks Sarah."

Kurt called out as Sarah closed the door. Everyone started strengthening themselves out. Kurt helped everyone fix their hair and straighten their clothes. The girls checked their makeup and they guys fixed their bowties, except for Kurt who fixed his tie.

Kurt fidgeted a little and Jeff squeezed his shoulder and spoke softly into Kurt's ear.

"It's going to be OK. You know that Blaine loves you and no matter what happens today you know that and that is what makes your wedding day so special."

Jeff had no idea about Burt, Carol, Finn, and Rachel coming to the wedding today but he knew Kurt well enough to know that Kurt would be worried about everything running smoothly. Kurt turned to his best man and smiled.

Sarah poked her head into the room again and told Kurt that they were starting. Kurt took a deep breath and walked to the doors that lead to the ceremony area. The wedding music was already playing.

The plan for the wedding was that Blaine would walk down the aisle first with his attendants because he was the one who proposed, also because his name came first in alphabetical order but that didn't sound as good so they went with the proposal excuse.

So Natalie walked down the aisle first, throwing or dropping the flowers as she went. Then Wes, Nick, and Dani followed. Next would be Blaine. They would all walk all the way to the daises where the justice of the peace would be waiting. Blaine would stand on the daises while his attendants would stand next to it.

After taking the pictures they each took off their rings and gave them to Sarah. They decided together that they only needed one ring and they liked the ones to that Blaine picked out as engagement rings. Sarah gave them the others ring before they could walk down the aisle. They would carry the others wedding in the inside pocket of their tuxes so they could exchange them when the justice of the peace said it was time.

Sarah opened the door when the music changed a little and Liz started walking. Once she was half way down Jeff started walking followed by Elliot and then Kitty. When they were about a fourth of the way to the daises Kurt started walking.

As soon as Kurt started walking he only had eyes for Blaine. He didn't see the people sitting on either side of him watching he was only look forward at Blaine smiling, and crying just a tiny bit, at him. He grinned back and Blaine and even let a few tears slide down his face as he continued to walk toward his husband.

When he got to the daises Blaine grabbed Kurt's hands and they held hands and stared into each other's eyes as the justice of the peace started talking. They were just having a simple ceremony that didn't mention anything about religion but just them joining together forever. More tears slid down both their faces as he asked them to read their vows. Blaine went first, again because of the alphabet thing.

"Kurt, you are my best friend and have been almost from the moment I met you. I know we've both been through so much but I love more than anything and I was going to sing to you but Wes,"

Blaine looked at Wes and so did Kurt.

"said that you probably wouldn't appreciate it. I think he's wrong but I will say you'll always be my Teenage Dream and I love you."

Kurt smiled hard at Blaine and laughed a little. Teenage Dream was the first song Blaine sang to him to ask him out on a date and the song had always been special to the two of them. The justice of the peace nodded that Kurt should say his vows next.

"Blaine, you have always been there for me even when I pushed you way. You lit a path for me that I no longer thought excited and I love you just for that. But you're also the sweetest, kindest person I know and I love you more than I ever imagined I could love anyone else. I didn't prepare a song for our vows but I promise I'll sing you one later. I love you Blaine."

They were both crying and smiling and the justice of the peace had they exchange rings and say the words they had been waiting for.

"Blaine Devon Anderson do you take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"And do you Kurt Elizabeth Hummel take this man to be your lawfully wedded husband?"

"I do."

"Then by the power vested in me by the state of New York I pronounce you husbands. You may kiss."

They practically leapt into the others arms and shared a kiss. It wasn't heated or even that long, mostly it was quick and deep because they couldn't stop smiling long enough to have any other sort of kiss. People were cheering, shouting, and throwing confetti at them, and by people Kurt knew it was their wedding party.

"Welcome Mr. Blaine and Kurt Anderson-Hummel!"

Their guests shouted more and Kurt closed his eyes as he and Blaine ran out of the room and down the aisle. They ran into Blaine's dressing room because it was closer and shut the door. Once the door was closed they kissed again. This time it was longer and more heated. They had no plans of doing more than that but they needed to be close and hold each other. They were married now!

There was a knock on the door and Sarah walked in with the wedding party and the justice of the peace. They signed their wedding certificate and then, after being congratulated by everyone, went back into the ceremony hall for pictures. All of the other guests had been funneled to the reception hall and would be finding their seats and getting to know their table mates.

Dinner would start once all of the official wedding ceremony pictures were taken. The photographer would stick around and get more pictures at the reception and their guests would also be taking pictures on the disposable cameras and, probably, their phones as well.

They tried to take the pictures quickly but it took about an hour to get all the shots they wanted. Sarah went back and forth between the reception hall and the photographer. She told them that the DJ started playing music and that no one seemed upset by the delay.

Once they were done everyone but Kurt and Blaine filed into the reception hall. They waited a few minutes outside the door and waited for Sarah, and the DJ, to announce them so they could make their entrance. They heard the music change and get quieter. It was Teenage Dream and Kurt and Blaine grinned at each other. They hadn't planned on having anything other than random music playing for their entrance and then singing a duet once they were in the reception hall but walking in to their song was amazing.

"I would now like to announce our new couple, Blaine and Kurt Anderson-Hummel and they, of course, will be singing Perfect by P!nk."

Everyone started clapping and cheering and Kurt and Blaine opened the door and walked into the reception hall. The walked to the stage that was set up and grabbed to mics. They looked one another in the eye and the music started. They got lost in the song and each other. Mostly they sang the song looking at the other but a few times they sang to the audience.

Kurt wasn't really paying attention to the audience when he sang though so he didn't see his parents and brother crying silently and cheering with the rest of their guests. They finished the song with a kiss and everyone shouted. They laughed and grinned and climbed down from the stage.

The DJ started to play some music as Kurt and Blaine walked to the head table where Jeff and Nick and Wes and his wife were already sitting. They sat and a few minutes later the caterers came in and started the first course. Blaine was nervous the entire meal. How Kurt was positioned he couldn't see his family sitting at their table with Cooper and his girlfriend, who he actually had for a few months now so he might actually be serious about her.

Kurt could tell that something was bothering his new husband but he figured that Blaine was planning some big romantic song so he left him. Once everyone was done eating the dinner the wedding party, minus Liz, Natalie, and the grooms but including Thad and Jake, and also David, all got up and went to the stage.

They, of course, planned a number. They sang to the grooms All You Need Is Love by the beetles. Everyone clapped and laughed along and a few people even started dancing on the floor. After a few more songs by their friends and the DJ Sarah told them it was time to cut the cake and the two of them moved to the table with the cake.

They cut the first pieces and fed them to each other, Kurt was more delicate giving his piece to Blaine but Blaine straight up shoved the cake into his mouth and face. Everyone laughed and look pictures, the photographer also got some pictures of them together cutting the cake and feeding it to each other.

Kurt and Blaine went back to their table, with new pieces of cake, and watched as everyone else got their cake. Drinks continued flowing and people started to get up and dance, to the DJ's music or to different people using the karaoke. Kurt and Blaine went up for their first dance after everyone was finished with their cake.

They decided for their first dance they would dance to All Of Me by John Legend. They danced together and about half way through other people started to join them. It was a slow song so everyone was slow dancing but there was a bubble and Kurt and Blaine as they danced and Kurt, once again, didn't see his family dancing with them.

After their dance they stayed on the dance floor and danced with their friends as Jeff and Nick got on the stage to sing a duet. Kurt and Blaine were dancing with everyone when Kurt saw them. Rachel and Finn were dancing on the edge of the dance floor and singing along with Jeff and Nick.

Kurt stopped moving and just stared at his brother. Blaine noticed him no longer dancing and followed Kurt's eye line and saw who he would guess were Finn and Rachel because he had never seen them and Kurt the one picture had of Finn did resemble the man dancing that Kurt was staring at. Kurt grabbed his arm, tightly.

"Blaine. Blaine do, do you see them. Do you see Finn?"

Blaine looked at his husband as he spoke but then looked back up at Finn and Rachel, they were staring as well. Kurt was also still staring and hadn't stopped even when he was talking to Blaine so the three of them were all looking at each other. Blaine grabbed Kurt's arm and dragged him away. He made sure to signal Finn and Rachel to follow them.

He dragged them to Kurt's dressing room, which thankfully was empty because Sarah reserved it just for this conversation. Kurt was still looking wide eyed and shocked, confusion hadn't set in yet for him so he was just shocked now. The door opened again and Blaine held onto Kurt so he wouldn't whip around really quickly.

Blaine did look behind him and saw that Finn and Rachel were walking into the room but so was Burt and Carol, who didn't look that different from the picture Kurt had of them, Finn looked older and more mature than the picture so he looked changed. When they shut the door Blaine took a deep breath and turned Kurt around.

"Oh my god, dad. Oh my god."


	14. Chapter 14

_Long chapter and hopefully it didn't come out too weird..._

 _i'm sorry for missing a few days (knew it was going to happen) but i just finished finals my mom's birthday is tomorrow and Christmas is coming up so... yup i've been busy..._

* * *

 **Past**

In some ways Kurt's building was colder than outside. The sun didn't really sine inside because almost everything was boarded up so it couldn't warm areas like it could outside so sometimes the inside of the building could be colder than outside in the cold.

A few pockets of the building were warmer though. Where there was gaps in the boards and sun could shine there would be warmer spots and occasionally Kurt would sit in the sun protected by the wind to try and warm himself.

A few times he'd even gone into the grocery store and looked around a little bit, inside the heated store, to warm up a bit. He even used the last of his money to get some warm soup in the deli area of the store. It probably wasn't the smartest move but at the time Kurt enjoyed it.

When Kurt started to wake up it felt like he was in the store, only really he was warmer. He was cocooned in warmth and he was comfortable. It felt like he was sleeping in his bed at home. He must be dreaming he thought. God he was so comfortable, it was so comfortable.

And that's what made him open his eyes. He had heard that dyeing was comfortable that when you died of hypothermia it felt like you were warm and safe so you didn't fight it.

Kurt opened his eyes and looked around. He was sitting in a room. It was only large enough to have a twin bed and a dresser in the corner. The walls were painted a warm grey and all the dresser was a worn brown.

The bed Kurt was laying on was comfortable and looked like a bed that old asylums used, made with white painted aluminum and had bars or slats on the frame and headboard. His sheets, pillow, and quilt were all white. There was three doors that Kurt could see.

All of them were simple brown doors. One was to his right on the adjacent wall, one was directly in front of him, and one was directly to his left. There was a window on the adjacent left wall covered with old grey curtains. His bed was pressed against the wall but in the center of the room.

He was terrified for a moment that he was going to be bound with those cuffs they use in moves to tie people down. He jerked his arms and legs toward the center of the bed and all his limbs moved. He looked to be sure and he didn't see any signs of being restrained but that is when Kurt realized he wasn't wearing his clothes.

He was wearing clothes but now he had on a pair of grey sweatpants and a grey long sleeved t-shirt. He wasn't wearing any shoes but he did have on thick wool socks. He looked around the room but didn't see his clothes or shoes but did find some grey slippers next to the bed.

He slipped them on and looked around the room. The dresser drawers were all empty and the window had bars on the outside but Kurt could see out it and tell it was facing the city. He could see buildings and people walking around. He was probably on the second or third floor, probably the third.

He tried to open the closest door, the one across from the bed, it opened to reveal a simple bathroom. It had a toilet, sink, and shower and that was it. The shower was a standing one with a slide door. There was toilet paper, bar soap, a hand towel, and a bathroom towel. The towels were both grey and so were the walls.

Kurt closed the door and tried to open the one next to the bed. It was locked and wouldn't open. That scared him and he ran for the other door. It opened, thankfully, to a hallway. The hallway was brown and there was beige carpeting unlike the linoleum in his room.

Kurt looked around the hallway and didn't see anyone. The wall opposite his room didn't have any other doors or windows but it did have random framed pictures of landscapes every few feet. Looking down the hall Kurt could see that there was other doors on the same side of the hall as him.

There was only one other door to his right but there was at least three to his left. At the end of the hall, on the left, was a door that probably let to some stairs or a different area of this floor. Kurt was just about to walk down to that door and try it when it opened.

The guy from earlier was opening the door, he had a girl with him, she was blond with her hair pulled up into a hair tie. They were both wearing blue jeans and grey long sleeved t-shirts like the one Kurt was wear. When Kurt saw them coming into the hallway Kurt ducked back into the room.

He leaned against the door and grabbed the door handle as he heard them getting closer. There was knock on his door and Kurt held his breath. He leaned harder against the door and hoped they wouldn't try and open it because the guy was much bigger than Kurt and he could probably force the door open. They knocked again, a little harder.

"Hello? We know you're in there. Open the door please we want to talk to you."

They whispered together outside his door for a moment before there was a light knocking again.

"We need to talk first and then you can go, we promise."

This time it was the girl talking and she was talking quietly like she knew Kurt was standing on the other side of the door. Kurt bit his lip. He didn't know if he could trust them but really what were his options? He could stand there and let them force the door open or he could let them in and then maybe he could escape.

He moved away from the door and slowly opened the door a little. He peaked out a little just to be sure it was only the two of them standing there. They were the only ones standing there so Kurt opened the door a little more to allow them in.

Kurt walked backward until he hit his bed where he sat down on it. They walked into the room, first the guy then the girl, she left the door open, which Kurt was glad for. They did kind of crowd the door though which made Kurt nervous but they did leave an opening between them.

The stood there for a moment silently looking Kurt over who shrunk down and slumped so he looked smaller in on the bed. The man spoke up first while the girl continued looking at Kurt with concern.

"My name is John, this is Clara."

He indicated to the girl and looked at Kurt with his eyebrows raised.

"And you are…"

He left that tail down and it was obvious he was waiting for Kurt to answer with his name. He thought about it and decided he could give them his first name, they gave him their first names and it's not like they could do anything with just his first name.

"I'm Kurt."

"OK Kurt we want to help you."

This time it was the girl, Clara, talking still in her soft voice but there was steel behind it so Kurt didn't think she was a pushover.

"We work here, at the Home for the Lost, for teens who look like they need help. And when John found you you looked like you could use some help.

We got you changed, well I did and our resident nurse and a doctor we called. The doctor checked you out and you have a severe cold that could develop into bronchitis if you're outside to much longer. We have you on some meds that should be helping but you really shouldn't be going outside or doing anything extra strenuous."

That was when Kurt realized he felt better. His throat was still sore and ached but it wasn't so constricted that he couldn't breathe. He had coughed a few times since waking but they weren't heaving, much, but he did feel better, he was obviously still sick but he could defiantly feeling better and the medicine was working.

Kurt also wondered about the name. They said this was the Home for the Lost which sounded like the Lost House but then again the website had advertised its own name so maybe it was a coincidence even if they did sound similar. Clara spoke up again while Kurt was thinking.

"Our goal here is to help kids who are on the street, for whatever reason, get on their feet. So first you get better, which includes your cold, your weight, and emotionally. Then we'll help you get a job and someplace else to live. For now though this is your room."

She nodded to the entire room in general.

"There are other teens here too, this floor has eight rooms on this side there is four. The floor below you also has eight rooms and the one above you has four. Right now we have ten residence including you four are boys and the rest are girls."

Kurt's eyes were probably glazing over and he was sure that both of them could see that. Clara smiled a little at him and her eyes got softer. John was looking less intimidating and he even smiled a little bit.

"I know this is a lot to take in and you don't even know most of it but trust us when we say we just want to help you."

They both smiled at Kurt and then there was a bell that rang through the building. It started Kurt and he jumped. John and Clara just shared a glance and they both looked at their wrist watches. Kurt heard noise out in the hallway but he didn't see anyone moving around in the hallway. Carla smiled and peaked out into the hallway.

"So right now its lunch time so why don't we go join everyone in the cafeteria and then we can explain things better after lunch?"

She smiled kindly at Kurt and Kurt hesitantly got up from the bed. He had trusted, sorta, them this far and he had heard other people moving so they probably weren't going to poison him and even if they did it's not like he was going to last much longer on his own on the street. Even if he didn't believe what they said about the bronchitis he knew that he was really sick and needed help, at least they were seemingly helping him.

They ushered him out the door, Clara stayed in front of him to show him where to go while John walked behind him and shut his door. They walked down the hallway and Kurt noticed that the two doors after his, toward the door John and Clara came from, had white boards on the door with names written on them.

The door closest to Kurt's had Nathen written on it while the next door had Ryan written but it was also slightly wiped off. Like someone swiped at it a few times with their finger but wasn't actively trying to erase it.

Clara opened the door to another hallway, this one was painted a brighter green color. That hallway went right and to another door that must be the bother half of the room. Right in front of them though was two sets of stairs, one going up and one going down.

Clara led them down a flight of stairs to a floor identical to Kur's only the walls were painted a maroon color. They, again, went down another flight of stairs. These stairs just led to a white stone room. There was a few boxes in the room, some looked like they were full and unopened while others looked empty and just not broken down.

There was a simple door, like the ones upstairs in the corner of the room that would go to the rest of the room. Clara led them through the door and into a cafeteria like area. Well mostly it was a few tables set up in a small room. The wall there painted the same as the room with the stairs and there was another plain door on the left adjacent wall.

There was three tables in the room that held ten, four on each side of the table and two on the end. There was five people sitting at the closest table, two boys probably about fourteen or so and three girls probably about the same age.

The tale in the center had three teen girls closer to Kurt's age, maybe even older, and one boy that was probably the same age. The final table had a man and women sitting at it who were probably in their late twenties or early thirties.

They were all eating soup and a sandwich and no one looked up at all when they walked in. Clara and John ushered Kurt through the door into a kitchen. It was an industrial working restaurant kitchen and everything looked sleek and knew. No one was cooking though. There wasn't any people there but there was pots cooking and utensils laying around.

It didn't look like suddenly everyone ran, rather it looked like everyone finished cutting things up and now where just waiting. There was another door out of the kitchen but this one was black and didn't have a handle like restaurant doors to the back.

That's when Kurt started wondering if this was really a restaurant. That would explain the kitchen and why the cafeteria in back was so small, if it really was a breakroom.

Clara and John showed Kurt a few of the soups on the stoves and let him pick one. He chose the chicken noodle because his throat had started to ache more and he though the broth would help. They dished him up a bowl full and some for themselves as well, they chose different soups but their bowls were the same size.

John went to a different area of the kitchen and grabbed two sandwiches, one for himself and one for Clara. Clara explained that the doctor didn't want him eating too much or anything extra strenuous on his throat so he would have to eat just soup for a little while at least while they slowly increased his calorie intake.

They then walked Kurt back into the cafeteria and sat them all down at the end of the table with the adults. Kurt wasn't quite sure if he should be sitting there as there was no other teens sitting there but Clara and John indicated he should.

There was silverware and napkins at the table that Kurt passed around to the adults and grabbed a spoon for himself. He started eating after Clara and John gave no indication that they were expecting him to talk and they weren't going to either.

He ate in silence while he heard bits and pieces of the other teens and adults conversations. He wasn't paying much attention so he really didn't hear what they were saying to remember it, just to have something to listen to that wasn't his own breathing or the wind against his building.

His building. All his stuff was, hopefully, still tucked away in the apartment above the building. He bit his lip and thought. Should he ask Clara and John if he could get his stuff? But they said he shouldn't go outside and what if he left, would he be allowed to come back?

But he really needed his things, if for no other reason than he wanted his pictures and some clean clothes. Well OK not clean and he really didn't have any more clothes because he was wearing most of them and he didn't seem to need clothes as the other teens were either dressed like him or they had on dark black jeans with a black long sleeved t-shirt with white writing on the back that said _Soups, Salads, and Sandwiches_ in bold font while the front said _Masquerade Café_ in a cursive font across the chest.

Clara looked up at him then, while he was looking worried and a little scared. She put down her spoon and whipped her mouth with a napkin.

"Kurt, how long have you been living on the street for?"

Kurt shrugged his shoulders and looked away from her.

"I'm only asking because if you've been out there long enough I'm guessing you have a hiding spot somewhere where you might have hidden some of your stuff."

He wasn't sure if she was just guess, she knew from experience, or if some of the other teens did the same thing as him but, surprisingly, she knew exactly what he was thinking. He bit his lip some more but nodded his head. Clara smiled back at him gently.

"You can't really go outside and get whatever it is you want but if you tell us were your stuff is we'll, no I will, go out and get it for you."

Kurt still worried his lip a little. They seemed really nice and trust worthy but that apartment had everything he owned in it and if they took something he would lose it. But really what other option did he have? If he went out to get it he could die and if they didn't go get it someone else might find the apartment and keep all of his stuff. At least this way he might get some of it back.

He nodded at her and opened his mouth to respond and tell her were his stuff was but she put her hand up.

"You can tell me after we eat. I don't have anything to write the address down with and there's more we have to talk about anyway."

Kurt nodded and bit his lip, he hopped she didn't need an address because the most he had was nearby cross streets and the number of buildings until it was the correct one. Clara started eating again so Kurt didn't bring it up and he started to eat again.

Just after he finished his soup another bell went off. It was quieter than in his room and it made Kurt think that it wouldn't be heard outside this room and the kitchen. Everyone started to get up then. The people in black started gathering all the dishes and headed to the kitchen area while the other teens in grey gathered dishes, gave them to the teens in black, and then went to the door that lead up the stairs.

Clara and John stayed put but passed their dishes to the other adults at the table and told Kurt to do the same. The other adults nodded to the three of them before they each went in a different direction, one to the kitchen and the other to the door the teens and grey used.

Once the room was cleared Clara shifted in her seat to face Kurt better and John put his hands on the table. He smiled at Kurt and nodded at Clara before talking.

"This place started out as a restaurant with apartments above it. It passed through a lot of hands since then because no one could stay open for business for very long. Now it's owned by a foundation that is dedicated to helping teens living on the street."

It started out just as apartments above an empty building but now hosts a restaurant to help with some of the costs."

"What happens is we, as volunteers, help teens who we find on the street get into good patterns and help them along until they can stand alone. For you this means, as we said earlier, that we have to get you healthy first.

So right now you won't be expected to work down in the kitchen or as a waiter but you will when you're feeling better. So the next week or so you'll be getting used to how things work around here and getting to know the other teens and volunteers.

We have a councilor on staff if you want to talk with someone, which we highly recommend and we require you to at least talk with her a few times. You'll also be looked at again by our nurse and doctor to see how well you're really doing and when you get the all clear some things will change."

"For now we're just gonna show you around and explain how things work."

They both got up and Kurt hurried to join them. John opened the door to the kitchen but didn't go in.

"This is the kitchen for the restaurant and where you will get food. The bells signal planned meal times so if you come down then there will be food available for you to eat. If you want something at a different time you can look through that fridge or the cupboards around it."

John indicated an older looking fridge compared to the newer appliances and the surrounding brown cupboards.

"If you want something specific to be stocked in there there is a shopping list on the fridge that you can add stuff to, as long as it's reasonable. It's just for food so if you need things like condoms or shampoo you have to use a different list."

John closed the door and Kurt turned lobster red, there was no way he was going to need those. Clara saw his face but didn't comment on Kurt's appearance. John led them to the storage room with the stairs.

"This is just a storage room that we keep some extra stuff for the restaurant in. The boxes over there,"

He pointed to a stack of boxes alongside the stairs.

"Have some supplies for you and the other teens. The boxes are marked with what's in them like shirts, soap, and blankets. There's a shopping list on the wall there so if you run out of anything or want something special we'll, probably if it's within reason, get it for you.

I'd watch the labels on the boxes though. You don't want to open a box that you weren't paying attention to and find a bunch of tampons or other things."

Kurt blushed again and John saw and laughed a little while leading them up the first flight of stairs. When they got to the second floor John stopped them in the hallway. The hallway was red and had two plain doors on either side that would go to the two halves of the floor.

"This is the girl's floor. You're only allowed in here if a girl invites you and if you do go in there both the outside door and her bedroom door need to stay open. It's the same rule for girls in your room on floor.

I know I said you could get condoms but we really don't advertise you having sex while here. There's the problem with possible pregnancy and we want you to get better and not attach yourself to someone who might be going in a different direction than you."

Kurt was now beat red and Clara smiled at him. John grinned at him too but indicated they should go up to the third floor. They stopped in the hallway again and this time Clara talked instead of John.

"You are allowed to wander around on your floor but we ask that you don't go into the rooms that don't have people staying in them and knock before going into anyone's room.

All the rooms have whiteboards on them but if they are partially wiped off or completely wiped off then that room is empty. Right now there are two boys on each side, your neighbor is closer to your age, we think, but he might be a little older.

You can talk with him later if you like but right now he's working downstairs. You have your own bathroom but we do do room checks every night to be sure you don't have anything you shouldn't."

John jumped in when Kurt started biting his lip.

"There isn't much you can't have except sharp objects and drugs. We want you to be safe so to prevent self-harm no gets razors or anything in their rooms and we don't tolerate drug use so those are confiscate and you get punished.

Depending on how many times we've caught you with the drugs or your situation there's different punishments. We won't throw you back on the street but we will get the police involved and you'll go through there system and hopefully straighten out."

"Because you're sick you'll be allowed some over the counter medication but you can't have it or take it in your room."

Clara nodded to John and they both led Kurt up the stairs to the fourth, and last, floor. It look exactly like the two floor below but with medium blue color walls. They stopped in the hallway again like all the other floors.

"This floor is half bedrooms for live in volunteers and a lounge area for the teens. The right side,"

John pointed to the door with a sign that said staff only on it.

"Is off limits to you teens, no matter what. Clara and I don't live here but we live close by but the other two you saw in the cafeteria, Jamie and Neal, they do live here. If you need something at night you can bang on the door or there's a phone on each floor in the hallways that if you press and hold 5 will ring them."

They walked to the door on the right and walked into a lounge area. There was couches and other seating options around the room along with a few TV's in different corners of the room. The back wall had another simple door. John and Clara ushered Kurt into the lounge. There was a two teens sitting in one of the corners watching something on TV.

"This is the lounge area where you can come and hang out and watch some TV or a movie. Once a week on Saturday night we have a movie night that almost everyone comes to. It would be a good time for you to meet everyone if you come tonight."

Kurt was startled today was Saturday? Not that it really mattered but Kurt really hadn't been paying attention to what day it was much less the day of the week. John and Clara led Kurt through the lounge, weaving though couches, to the door at the back of the room. They opened the door to another hallway with three doors on the left and two on the right.

"This is a silent and study area. The two rooms on this side,"

He indicated the right side.

"Are for people who want to study together the other side is for smaller groups or people wanting to study alone. There are desks and writing utensils in each room. If you need a tutor to get your high school diploma we have one who is willing to help and he'll help you here during specific times."

"You'll have to have a meeting with him so he can eases what you need to get your diploma and set a time with you to get it done."

Clara nodded to one of the smaller rooms and turned to John.

"I'm going to tell Kurt the rest of the rules and get the location of the rest of his stuff if you want to help Jamie downstairs?"

John nodded and walked out of the study area and probably went down to the restaurant. Clara led Kurt into one of the smaller study rooms.

"They lock from the inside so if you don't want to be disturbed just lock the door. Generally you should knock before going into one of these rooms to be sure no ones in there but it's not a hard and fast rule. If someone does knock and you have the door locked they might want to talk to you. If one of us volunteers knocks you need to open the door."

Kurt nodded and Clara shut the door but didn't lock it.

"There isn't a rule that if you're in here with a girl that you can't lock the door but we do recommend it. Now if you give me the address where your stuff is I can go get it for you."

Kurt explained that he didn't have the address but he knew where it was. Clara nodded and wrote down where Kurt said it was. Then she went over some more rules of living in the house and said that after dinner Kurt could meet with the doctor and tutor.

"Right now, though, we need you to sign a kind of contract. It's nothing intense and we really don't ask for any of your information but we just want something to say that you are here and you agree to the rules here."

Kurt nodded and she pulled out a paper from a folder that was sitting on the table.

"You can fill out any information you want but you just have to sign your first name on the line at the bottom.

Kurt nodded and hesitated. There were lines for his full name, his address, phone number, and his parent's names. Did he want to give out this information? Clara cleared his throat.

"If you change your mind you can always give us more information later."

Kurt nodded and wrote down just his first name and signed just that on the line. Clara smiled and grabbed his paper.

"OK you are free to do what you want. I might suggest you take a nap though until dinner. You're still sick and you need to get better."

Clara smiled at him and got up and walked out of the room. Now Kurt was alone and could finally think, was this his second chance? Was he really getting off the street and getting on his feet again?


	15. Chapter 15

**Present**

"Dad."

"Kurt."

Kurt was frozen but Burt suddenly engulfed Kurt in a hug. It was a bear hug, tight with both their faces pressed into the others shoulder and neck. Kurt's arms were slack against his side for a moment before he grabbed his father.

Burt was already crying, mostly silently, into Kurt's shoulder. As Kurt wrapped his arms around his fathers he started to cry as well. His crying wasn't nearly as silent as his fathers. He was sobbing and grabbing his father's shoulders in a vice grip.

When Burt started hearing and feeling his son react he too started to cry louder and pat his son on the back. Everyone else in the room was misty eyed at least. Blaine was grinning from ear to ear as tears fell down his face. Right now how Kurt was reacting was worth anything Kurt was going to say to him later.

Carol had her hands clasped together in front of her face and was crying, well sobbing. Rachel and Finn were holding on to each other as Rachel sobbed into her husband's shoulder. Finn wasn't crying, not sobbing, but tears were leaking down his face.

The room was silent except for everyone's sobbing. Kurt was holding tightly to his dad and Burt didn't look like he was likely to let go any time soon. Sarah walked in then, or almost did.

She opened the door, saw everyone crying, and walked out. Blaine saw her though and quietly walked out of the room. Carol grabbed his arm, though, before he could get out of the room. The grip was tight up as soon as Blaine looked up into her eyes, still full of tears, she whispered thank you and let go of his arm.

Blaine nodded and smiled at her. Then he walked out of the room, quietly closing the door behind him, to talk with Sarah. She was just about to walk back into the reception hall when Blaine called her name. She turned and walked up to Blaine.

"Well it looks like this are going OK in there."

Blaine smiled and nodded.

"Not much has happened yet except for crying. Is there something you needed?"

Sarah nodded.

"People are starting to wonder where the grooms went and I was just wondering how things were going."

Blaine nodded.

"Do you want me to go in there and explain to everyone what is happening?"

"That's up to you and Kurt but I would at least let your wedding party know how long you guys might be occupied."

Blaine nodded again.

"I think it might be best if I just make a statement to everyone."

"OK you can use the mic after this song if you want."

Blaine nodded and followed Sarah into the reception hall. The song the DJ was playing was just ending so Blaine went up to the stage while Sarah explained to the DJ what was happening. The music stopped and everyone turned to Blaine.

"I'm sure some of you have started to notice the absence of my beautiful new husband and myself."

Some people nodded and Jeff and Nick hooted, probably thinking Kurt and Blaine snuck out to celebrate their new relationship status. Blaine shook his head.

"I can assure you that we will be joining the party again soon but I had a little surprise for Kurt that is currently taking up his time."

Almost everyone had questioning looks except for Jeff and Nick who still looked like they were expecting Blaine to announce that they were hiding in the closet getting busy. Blaine grinned and continued.

"I know some of you know a little bit about Kurt's past and if not I'm sure some of you have noticed the lack of Kurt's family present. Well Kurt hasn't seen or talked to his family for about seven years until today so bear with us that Kurt has disappeared."

A few people were blinking rapidly and looking confused around them. Blaine turned to the DJ and signaled him to play the next song as Blaine jumped down from the stage, and was immediately surrounded by this and Kurt's guests.

Most of them had questions that Blaine carefully answered or carefully didn't answer. Everyone did seem to understand, though, that Kurt would be missing for at least a little while longer. Most of the wedding party approached Blaine to see what they could do to help or distract people.

Blaine responded pretty much the same to everyone, they didn't need help. Mostly the only thing left to do at the reception was a few more dances that were planned for Kurt and Blaine specifically and the "bouquet" toss. They actually didn't have bouquets because neither of them wanted to carry them but they did make two just to toss to their friends for the fun of it.

Realistically though the reception could continue pretty much the same without Blaine or Kurt being present. They would be leaving in an hour or so anyway to get to their honeymoon. That was the part that wasn't exactly planed correctly.

They were leaving for France for a week right after the reception so Kurt wouldn't really have time to get to know his family again. However Blaine had been in contact with Finn a few times who said that they could meet up later, after the honeymoon, and reconnect.

He also said that he was sure Burt and Carol would be willing to come up to New York to visit with Kurt or they could all go down to Ohio and then Blaine could spend some time with his family as well. Blaine hadn't said no to either idea but he wasn't super jazzed with spending more time with his family.

He got along OK with Cooper but only for small amounts of time and only if there was time between their encounters. His parents, well they still didn't like that he was gay and marrying another man wasn't something they really wanted but they were trying to be supportive. And by being supportive they were paying for a good portion of the wedding. Blaine decided to mingle with his and Kurt's guests for a little while before going back to check on Kurt.

It took him about half an hour to get back to Kurt and his family reunion. He knocked on the door before peaking in. Everyone was sitting on various furniture with Kurt in the middle as much as possible. None of them were crying anymore but everyone's eyes were red rimmed and Kurt and Burt stilled looked a little misty eyed.

When Blaine walked all the way into the room Kurt got up and practically ran into Blaine's arms. Blaine braced himself and returned Kurt's grip on him. Kurt started to cry again and Blaine could feel the cool tears on his neck as well as Kurt kissing his neck. Blaine rubbed his husbands back and kissed his neck in return.

Kurt grabbed his face and kissed him on the mouth. It wasn't a needy kiss full of passion, instead it was a thank you kiss. Blaine pulled back from his new husband and looked into his tear filled eyes. They were happy with only a tinge of sadness and Kurt was smiling.

"Thank you, thank you so much."

Kurt kissed him again on the lips, it was just a peck but Blaine tasted his tears.

"God Blaine, I love you."

Kurt smiled at him then grabbed his hand and dragged him to where his family was still sitting.

"I know you probably already know each other but I thought I'd introduce you anyway. Finn, Rachel, Carol, Dad this is my husband Blaine. Blaine this is my dad, Burt, my step mom, Carol, and my brother, Finn, and his wife, Rachel."

Kurt pointed to everyone as he said their name and they each waved a little at Blaine and Blaine returned the gesture. Kurt dragged Blaine to the spot he was just sitting in and squeezed them both into the spot meant for one. Burt, who was sitting on the love seat as well, shuffled over as much as he could to make room for his son and his new husband. Kurt turned to his right to talk with Rachel and Finn.

"You were just telling me about your daughter, Lily."

Rachel nodded and Finn pulled out his smart phone. He showed Kurt pictures while Rachel talked, at first about her daughter but then it gradually became about her. Blaine wondered what it was like to have her and Cooper at the same table. Rachel at least seemed a little more subtle at changing the subject to talk about herself but both of them competing to talk about themselves would be intense.

Burt and Carol managed to steer the conversation from Rachel to Kurt and Blaine. They asked where they were planning on going for their honeymoon, what their jobs were, and other questions about their lives. They all chatted about their lives now and Kurt tried to catch up as much as he could with his family and his old friend's lives, at least the ones the Rachel and Finn were still in contact with.

Sarah walked into the room after some time and everyone turned and stopped talking.

"I hate to break this up but if you want to do the bouquet toss you need to do it now so you can make it to the airport on time to catch your flight."

Everyone was suddenly pulling out their phones or checking their watches and gasping at the time. Kurt turned to his dad and kissed him on the cheek.

"We need to get together after the honeymoon."

Burt nodded and grabbed his son's hand.

"Call me when you get back to New York and we'll plan something. We'll come up or you and Blaine can come down."

Kurt nodded and kissed his father on the cheek again and they all got up. They walked back into the reception hall and everyone started cheering. Kurt grabbed Blaine's arm and whispered in his ear.

"Why are they cheering? What did you tell them?"

Blaine kissed Kurt on the cheek.

"Just that you were reconnecting to your family that you hadn't seen in seven years."

Kurt looked a little niffed but Sarah ushered them up on the stage and Blaine squeezed his shoulder before kissing him on the mouth. Kurt smiled at him then grabbed one of the mics on the stage.

"So neither of us are brides but we didn't want to deprive our single friends of the experience of catching the bouquet."

"Or the garter but Kurt wouldn't wear one so instead we just have to bouquets, sorry folks."

Everyone laughed and Kurt nudged Blaine

"So we're gonna have all the single folks come out onto the dance floor and we'll both throw the bouquets so it doesn't matter if to gals get them, to guys, or both."

Everyone chattered a little, some laughed, a few looked a little confused but everyone started moving on or off the dance floor. Once everyone seemed to have stopped moving Blaine started talking into the mic again.

"Ok single friends me and Kurt will throw at the same time so pick a side and be ready to catch."

People shuffled around again and started screaming a little. Kurt and Blaine grinned and turned around as Sarah passed them each a bouquet. They counted to three before throwing the flowers. Their friends behind them screamed and as Kurt and Blaine turned around they saw two women fighting over one of the bouquets.

The two of them laughed as the DJ started playing _A Moment Like This_ by Kelly Clarkson. The DJ was just playing the instrumental version so the Kurt and Blaine could start to sing it. The plan was for them to start the song and sing the first chorus then Jeff and Nick would take the next part and the second chorus, then Wes and his wife would take the third verse up to the last chorus and the last few lines all three couples would sing together.

After that Kurt and Blaine would leave for their honeymoon. But instead of Wes and his wife singing the final part Finn and Rachel did. It surprised Kurt but he grinned and grabbed Blaine's hand. They sang the final lines together, the six of them, and Kurt and Blaine jumped down from the stage and walked out of the reception hall.

Their friends and family threw birdseed at them as they walked out the door. They heard the music start up again when the doors closed behind them and they walked to Blaine's dressing room. Sarah was waiting for them there to go over the last few things about the reception.

It was Jeff and Wes's job to make sure everyone left on time and make sure everything got cleaned up while Kitty was taking them to the airport. The rest of the wedding party was supposed to help them but it was their job and responsibility.

Once Sarah went over all the last minute things with them they went outside where Kitty was waiting for them in her car. It was decorated with ribbons on the back and writing on the windows. They climbed in and started laughing.

Kitty shook her head but drove them to the airport and dropped them off with their bags. They grabbed hands and shared a kiss before walking into the airport and off to their honeymoon.


	16. Chapter 16

**Past**

Kurt sat in the study area for a few minutes before getting up. He decided he wasn't going to hang out in the lounge area and instead went to his room. He wandered around the hall a little and then explored his room further. It was rather plain but it was all Kurt really needed. He found an outlet that he could use for his long dead MP3 player when Clara brought it back to him.

He looked in the bathroom again and found that there was also some male shampoo and conditioner. He also found there was some body wash in the shower with the shampoo and conditioner. He used the bathroom and took a shower, mostly because he could and he wanted to feel clean again.

He washed and cleaned his hair more than one and spent quite a bit of time cleaning under his nails. Unfortunately the hot water ran out fairly quickly and Kurt had to get out of the shower when it got to be too cold for him.

He realized as he was drying off that he didn't have any other clothes besides the ones he took off before getting in the shower. He bit his lip and wrapped the towel around his waist. He walked out of the bathroom quickly and checked the dresser, thinking maybe there would be more clothes in it.

Surprisingly there was. He grabbed some underwear, sweatpants, and a long sleeved shirt and ran back to the bathroom to change. There was a mirror in the bathroom but Kurt purposefully didn't look at himself in it. After he finished changing he was exhausted. He walked back to the bed and collapsed without even removing the covers.

He woke up later when the bell rang for dinner. The light was still on in his room but the curtains were open so Kurt could see that it was dark outside. Someone knocked on his lightly and timidly on his door. Kurt got up out of his bed and opened his door.

It was the older teen who was sitting with the older girls at lunch, probably Nathan because John and Clara had said the boy next to him was closer to his age and his boy seemed older. He was taller than Kurt with dirty blond hair. He was wearing the same style clothes as Kurt but his skin was tanner and he looked much more fit.

He rubbed his slightly shaggy hair a little before jerking his head to the left, his right, toward the door to the stairs.

"John wanted me to make sure you came down for dinner."

Kurt nodded and followed him down to the cafeteria. They didn't talk as they walked down but he did nod his head toward an empty seat at the table he was sitting at at lunch. Kurt smiled and sat next to him with the girls sitting across from them.

The four of the chatted a little but didn't move to include Kurt in the conversation but Kurt thought that was mostly because he didn't look like he wanted to be included. The other table of teens also chatted but all the talking stopped when the four adults walked into the room.

They called everyone's attention by clearing their throats, there really wasn't that many people in the room and everyone was already silent.

"OK everyone tonight is the movie night and we will be showing Inside Out based on popular vote. The movie will start at eight, like normal, and we will have some pop and popcorn for all of you who show up. Also we have a new teen here so make sure to welcome him and show him around. He'll introduce himself at the movie tonight so we don't keep you from your food. Thank you, you are released to get your food."

Everyone got up and Kurt followed their lead for getting food. He only got some soft vegetable soup while the other teens got soup and sandwiches, and a few made salads as well. He followed the older teens back to their table and sat with them to eat.

Again he didn't participate in the conversation but he did listen to the talk. Another bell rang to signal the end of the meal and one of the girls grabbed all their dishes and disappeared back to the kitchen. Nathen turned to him then and spoke to him again.

"Um most of the time we hang out in the lounge after dinner until the movie if you want to join us?"

Kurt almost nodded but he remembered he had to meet with the tutor and doctor. He told Nathan that and he smiled and invited Kurt to join them when he finished. Kurt smiled at him and nodded his thanks.

Clara came up to him once people started to clear out and told him that the doctor would see him first in his room and then he could meet with the tutor in one of the study rooms. Kurt nodded and went up to his room to meet with the doctor.

A man in a doctor's coat and the woman, Jamie, where waiting for him outside in the hallway by the stairs. They stopped talking when Kurt came up but smiled at him and followed him to his room. Jamie shut the door behind him but told him he could open the door if felt uncomfortable, he said he was fine and Jamie nodded.

The doctor introduced himself as James Barns but just to call him James. He looked over Kurt like Kurt remembered doctors doing at annual checkups. He lifted his shirt so James could get his stethoscope and check his breathing and heart.

He also checked his throat, inside and out and muttered to himself a little bit. He checked something from a clipboard he had with him. He wrote a few things down on the paper and checked a few other things.

"So you're looking better but I still want you resting and taking medication for your cold. And you're still very underweight so we'll continue with small portions of food and slowly increase. We'll check again next week but you should be OK after that to start working at least downstairs."

Kurt nodded and James turned to Jamie.

"I'll give you another prescription for him that'll help with his weight and you can keep giving him the other medication for his cold."

Jamie nodded and James wrote her a prescription and handed it to her. James walked out of the room but waited for Jamie in the hallway.

"So you'll have a nightly and morning prescription that you'll come to me for. I'll have it for you at breakfast and then you'll have to come to the lounge at around eight and just knock on the door and I'll give you the medication."

Kurt nodded and she released him to go see the tutor but said she would have his nightly med before the movie so he should come to her to get it. She walked out of the room and so did Kurt. James and Jamie went down the stairs and Kurt went up.

He went into the study room and found one of the doors open and an older man sitting there with a pile of papers. When Kurt peaked in he looked up and ushered him in the room. Kurt sat down and the tutor introduced himself as Brandon.

"So right now I'm just going to ask you a few questions about your education and if you could answer as honestly as possible that would be best."

He looked through a few papers before finding the one he wanted and grabbing a pen.

"I know your name is Kurt and I don't need your last name but I will if you want a graduation certificate or a GED but I think you're a little young for that."

He smiled at Kurt and Kurt timidly returned it.

"OK Kurt what grade where you last in and when?"

"Um I was a senior at the beginning of the school year. I only went to the first three weeks of school before I ran away."

Brandon looked a little surprised, everyone was surprised when they heard his age because he looked younger, but he jotted down the information.

"Were you a normal student, honor student, poor student, and what grades did you get?"

"I got good grades, I had a 3.8 GPA and I took as many honor and high level classes as I could."

He nodded and wrote it down before asking a few more questions. They were things like what classes he was planning on taking, what he had wanted to be in the future, and a few other things relating to education.

"OK so what I'm going to do is basically homeschool you for the rest of the years. Everything will be at a faster pace because you missed about half a year but I'll get you to pass all the tests in time for a normal graduation.

If you stay with the program sometime in early May you'll have to go to a local high school and take a test to say you were homeschooled for the last year. Then we'll get a letter from the state and your diploma."

Kurt smiled a little and nodded at him.

"I'll meet with you every week day at three. There are clocks in the lounge and if you ask they'll give you a clock in your room. We'll meet in this room just knock and I'll tell you to come in or wait depending on if someone is still with me.

Each session will be about an hour but I'll give you homework that will take longer but you'll need to do it to graduate in May."

Kurt nodded and Brandon gathered up his papers and told Kurt he'd see him Monday at three. They both left the room but Brandon when out of the lounge while Kurt decided to wait in the lounge. He saw the group of older teens sitting in front of a TV and watching a show but he didn't sit with them. Instead he curled up in one of the arm chairs and grabbed a random magazine that was sitting on the floor next to the chair.

It was a random gossip rag and Kurt didn't really read it as much as flip through the pages and stare at the pictures. He didn't notice at first that someone was standing next to him until he cleared his throat. Kurt looked up, startled, one of the adults, Neal, was standing next to him.

"If you have a magazine that you prefer we are willing to get it for you or there are books on the shelves over there,"

He pointed to a row of bookshelves along one of the walls in the lounge. It was packed full of books both older looking and new, fat and skinny ones.

"You can read any of them or ask for a different or series that we can get or rent from the library."

Kurt nodded and smiled up at him. Neal was smiling as well but walked away when Clara peaked into the lounge and called his name. Kurt sat and flipped through the magazine until he noticed that other teens had started to wander into the lounge and where gathering around the biggest TV.

Kurt got up and walked to one of the open armchairs by the TV. Jamie intercepted him and gave him a pill and a small Dixie cup of water. He took the pill and Jamie smiled at him before walking away.

Kurt went where the other teens were sitting and sat down but no one really payed much attention to him. Clara and Neal came in with cans of pop and a large bowl of popcorn. John followed after with smaller bowls and more pop.

They set everything down on a coffee table and everyone stopped talking. Clara walked in front of the TV.

"Alright everyone you know the rules, one pop each and one bowl of popcorn. While James sets up the movie and Neal sorts out the popcorn our new member, Kurt, will introduce himself. Kurt if you want to come up."

Kurt nervously got up and walked next to where Clara was standing.

"OK Kurt just introduce yourself and share something about yourself if you want."

Kurt bit his lip and wrung his hands out nervously.

"I'm Kurt. Um I'm a senior I guess and I'm 17. I uh well I wanted to be a singer or do something in fashion but um, ya."

He stopped talking and there was silence for a moment before Clara thanked him and sent him back to his seat. Neal started passing out bowls of popcorn and asking people what pops they wanted before handing them a can.

The TV turned on and the adult's quickly shushed everyone and turned down the lights. The movie started and, surprisingly, everyone was silent while watching the movie. There were a few whispers throughout the movie but they stayed quiet and infrequent.

When the movie was over some of the teens wandered off back to their rooms but most of them stayed and John put in another movie. Kurt decided to get up before it started though and go to bed early. James had said he would be tired so Kurt just wanted to go to bed early.

Jamie stopped him again and gave him some cough syrup, which he took, and said he could go to bed. When Kurt got to his room he wanted to just sleep but he thought he should brush his teen, even though technically he should after taking the cough syrup. He brushed his teeth, carefully trying not to get anything down his throat and went to bed.

The next week was mostly the same for Kurt. He woke up, took his medication, ate his food, read in the lounge, ate lunch, took a nap, went to the tutor, did his homework, ate dinner, watched TV in the lounge with the other teens, took his meds, and went to bed. Each day varied a little but that was basically his schedule.

Mostly he stayed to himself but the other teens tried to engage him in conversation. He talked a little but mostly he just listened. A councilor came by on Wednesday and saw him before he went to the tutor but mostly she asked him general questions. She said they would meet again at this time every week to talk about Kurt's past.

She wasn't intrusive but she said that talking about it would help him get better and allow him to move on a little. Kurt did start to open up to her and he wanted to tell her more once she promised that she wouldn't tell anyone, especially his family.

James came again a week later and gave him an all clear to start working, but not in back in the kitchen, he also told Kurt to start increasing how much he ate, slowly. After the meeting with the doctor and Jamie, Jamie had a meeting with him and John.

They asked him what he wanted to do now with his future. Kurt said he really didn't know so John asked what he wanted to do before. He didn't say before what but it's generally how people talked when they didn't want to dive into someone else's past.

Kurt explained that he had wanted to be on Broadway or he had wanted to do something with fashion. Jamie asked if he still had any interest in doing those things still and Kurt shrugged his shoulders. He still liked to sing but he didn't really want to sing in front of large crowds and he did still like fashion but he lost track of the trends.

Jamie asked if he knew how to sew and tailor clothes and Kurt confirmed that he did. She suggested that maybe they could get Kurt a job as a tailor, at least for now, to see if it sparked his interest again or if he realized he didn't want to do that.

Kurt agreed and Jamie said she would look into getting him a job at a tailor shop. For now they let Kurt know that he would be working as a waiter downstairs after breakfast to lunch. Clara would get him a uniform that he could put on after breakfast and would then be trained by Kim, one of the older teen girls. He would start tomorrow and would work then until he left or they found him a better fitting job.

After the meeting with them Kurt's schedule changed some but mostly it was the same except he was working instead of reading in the lounge. He found it fairly easy to work as a waiter in the morning because most people wanted just coffee or they were older and more kind.

He also found out that they hired local teens to prevent them from choosing the street life. They took shifts throughout the day but mostly came after school or on weekends. They also had a few adults besides the ones that Kurt had already seen that worked especially during the house's meal breaks.

The menu wasn't that hard to memorize and most people took pity on him because he looked young and skinny. He found that the café mostly had regulars that came in at specific times and got the same thing every time.

They teased Kurt at first about being the new guy but they were always nice to him and as time went by they teased him about other things. Kurt started to smile more and talk a little more with the other teens. He only worked five days a week, as was the law, and was paid less than minimum wage, technically it was above minimum wage but the house took some for food, rent, and other things.

No one minded and it seemed fair to Kurt, who really didn't expect to get paid at all. Kurt slowly gained weight but he didn't really gain back as much weight as he lost and if he wasn't careful he lost it again. Winter fully set in and was starting to end when Kurt realized what month it was.

He left home at the end of September and was found by John around early December. Now it was early March and Kurt was doing better. The councilor tried to convince him to talk to his family but he knew that if he did they would want him to come back and then Karofsky would know.

That's also when Kurt really started thinking about Karofsky and the future. Honestly Kurt hoped he would forget but he knew he wouldn't and Kurt also wasn't sure that he would ever leave Lima which would mean that Kurt really couldn't go back.

The councilor dropped it when she realized Kurt wasn't going to change his mind and worked with Kurt to try and figure out what he wanted. It was also in March that Jamie found him a job at working with a tailor, or rather a seamstress.

She worked just a few blocks away at a store front and was willing to let Kurt help her. The arranged to have Kurt work with her when he would normally work at the café so he would work for her for about three hours a day. He would work from eight to eleven. He would leave after breakfast at seven thirty and would be back in time for lunch at noon.

Neal walked him to her shop the first time to make introductions. The shop owner was an older woman about fifty but she was nice and acted like a grandma to Kurt. She started out making Kurt only do simple things like hemming pants but after only a week she was letting Kurt do other things.

She even taught Kurt how to do more complex things like bodice work and designing women's clothes when she noticed he was interested in making clothes as well. They actually got to be friends and Kurt confided in her a few times about what happened back home, his old home in Lima.

In May he went to the local high school to take the diploma test with Kim. They also, together, got a talk from Neal and Clara.

"So both of you are turning or are 18 now so that means we're trying to transition you to living on your own."

Clara pulled out some flyers and Neal grabbed some papers.

"Kim you've been working at the café but you said you were interested in going to college for business. So what we suggest for you is to apply to a local community college and get started on that. I know you and Jamie applied for the University of Ohio in November, did you get in?"

Kim smiled and nodded.

"I just got the letter yesterday and was going to tell you. They are also offering me a big scholarship to go there."

Clara got up and hugged her and they both cried a little.

"Well then you'll defiantly have to go there in the fall. You'll be able to stay with us until you leave and work during the summer and you are always welcome here again."

They smiled some more before Kim asked to be excused to share the news with Jamie. Clara and Neal let her go and waited till the door shut in the study room before turning to Kurt.

"Kurt. We've all talked to you and you don't seem interested in college, is that right?"

Kurt nodded and bit his lip.

"I'd like to keep doing what I have been, tailoring and designing some"

Clara nodded and looked at Neal who smiled at both her and Kurt.

"OK well Ms. Miller is will to have to work for her still over the summer and longer but I know that you want out of Ohio so we Ms. Miller gave us an idea."

"Ms. Miller has a friend in New York, who is also a tailor, and who is looking for some help. She has a room above her shop she is willing to let you use and is OK with you helping her until you find a better job and can get your own apartment."

Kurt's eyes just about exploded from his face. He had a way to New York with a job and a place to stay. He smiled at them and nodded his head rapidly. They grinned at him and went over some more details.

"You'll stay here for the summer and work with Ms. Miller and at the café until August, when Mrs. Betty can take you. We'll help you move and get you some new clothes but Mrs. Betty said the apartment is already furnished so you won't need any of that stuff."

Kurt couldn't stop smiling as they told him what was happening and what he should expect. They also gave him another speech about staying off the street but that if he needed help he could always contact them for help.

When they were done talking Kurt got up and hugged them both and whispered thank you in their ears. He really wasn't a hugging person, especially to these people, but it just felt right now. He was getting his life back and everything was going to be OK.


	17. Chapter 17

**Present**

"The honeymoon was amazing!"

"Kurt I really don't want to hear this…"

"Shut up Finn he's talking to me not you. You can get us more wine."

"No Finn don't I'll stop and I really don't need more wine."

Kurt was visiting with Finn and Rachel at their apartment a day after he and Blaine got back from their honeymoon. Lily was spending the day at a friends while Kurt, Finn, and Rachel caught up. Kurt had just gotten there five minutes ago and he was teasing Finn a little bit because he could.

It was such a long time since he had joked around with his brother and he really missed it. Blaine had smiled at him when he had asked if it was alright for him to visit with Finn and Rachel. He had kissed him on the cheek and told him to have fun. Kurt tried to get him to come as well but Blaine understood that he needed some time alone to get to know his family again.

"Dad wants all of us to go down to Ohio for Thanksgiving so we can have the holiday together as a complete family."

Kurt smiled but shook his head.

"Finn I can't go back to Ohio."

"But Kurt it's been seven years I'm sure no one remembers you from high school even."

Finn nudged his wife and gave her a look when she said that and Kurt looked down at the coffee mug he now had in his hands.

"I just can't."

He looked up and gave a halfhearted smile.

"But everyone can come to Blaine and I's place and we can cook, or I can cook and you can watch the game with Blaine and Dad."

Finn looked excited about Kurt cooking, Kurt was an amazing cook in high school and Finn didn't think that that would be something that changed. He was also interested that Kurt's husband liked sports, or at least liked sports better than cooking.

"So you found someone who likes sports, huh?"

Rachel grinned as she asked remembering how much Kurt really didn't care for sports in high school but that he was still on the football team and a cheerleader his sophomore year. Kurt chuckled a little and shook his head.

"Ya Blaine likes to watch the games and keep track of who's winning for quite a bit of sports that I really don't keep track of but he knows that I don't care for them and doesn't talk to me about it."

Kurt took a sip of his coffee.

"And we've made a deal that he can watch football one night a week as long as I can use him as a model one night a week. And if he goes to a game with his friends I get to go out with my friends and do something."

Everyone grinned and Kurt laughed a little.

"He did take me to one football game after I told him I was a kicker. It wasn't horrible but I got to dress both of us for a week after as a compromise."

Everyone laughed harder and Finn almost snorted coffee out his nose before Rachel and Kurt tried to calm him, and themselves, down.

"God I've missed you guys so much."

The mood got more serious after that. Kurt had told them all why he ran away after Blaine left them in the dressing room. It was a sore subject because none of his family really understood why he felt his only option was to run. He tried explaining better to them but none of them really got it no matter how he tried to explain it.

There was silence in the room as everyone looked at their coffee, or wine in Rachel's case. Kurt shifted a little in his seat while the silence continued. He didn't know how to stop the awkward silence or change the subject so he kept quiet. Finn came to the rescue actually, to Kurt's surprise.

"Um, so Kurt you said you're working in fashion now, at the reception?"

Kurt smiled up at him and mouthed thank you to his step brother.

"Ya I work at a bridal boutique and I do some tailoring for them as well as a sales assistant."

It wasn't the best topic change because neither Finn nor Rachel were especially fashion inclined but it gave Kurt an opening to ask Finn and Rachel about their jobs.

"Rachel, you said you're working on Broadway now?"

Finn grinned at his step brother, knowing exactly what Kurt was doing. Rachel nodded enthusiastically and took a sip of her wine before launching into a story.

"Yes! It's only a minor rule but I'm sure this is my big break to make it big! Our director is amazing and I'm sure he's thinking of casting me in in this next production and-"

She kept talking but Kurt was mostly zoning out now. Finn nudged him a little and they shared a smile, Kurt might not know the new Rachel, the older one, but he did know the Rachel from high school and he knew how to sidetrack her.

Rachel kept talking and talking and Finn got up to refill his and Kurt's coffee and to get his wife a cup. Kurt smiled in thanks when Finn gave him the cup and Rachel momentarily stopped talking when Finn gave her hers. Finn jumped in then so Kurt wouldn't have to listen to his wife all night.

"So Kurt, what does Blaine do?"

Rachel looked a little perturbed but she had mellowed out a little over the years and turned to Kurt to listen to what he was saying.

"Oh he teaches music to kids and teens. He does private lessons for piano, guitar, and vocals. He's auditioned for a couple of roles at different theaters and he's gotten a few small roles but he likes teaching best. We also volunteer, and Blaine works there some for pay, at a local children's and teens theater. Actually that how we met Elliot and Dani, two of our wedding party, at the theater."

That peaked Rachel's interest a little. She asked about where it was and how often they put on plays and a few other things. Kurt and Finn shared a look when Rachel asked what age kids were allowed in the productions. Finn tried to interject that that Lily was a little young but Rachel waved him off.

Kurt was the hero when he said that usually the kids were older than ten. Finn looked happy and Rachel looked displeased so Kurt told them that they did have a Christmas play for kid's three to nine. Rachel grinned and clapped her hands together. Finn glared a little but he didn't look to angry.

They talked for a little longer before Finn suggested they go out to get some lunch. They both agreed and Rachel suggested Kurt call Blaine and invite him to the restaurant. Kurt smiled and called his husband, who agreed to meet them at an Italian restaurant between the two apartments.

Kurt and Blaine shared a kiss when they met at the restaurant and they all sat down at a table. The four of them chatted about different things; theater, singing, Finn even brought up sports and he and Blaine chatted about that for a little bit before Rachel butted in.

"So, Kurt. Have you and Blaine thought about kids yet?"

Blaine choked on the coffee he was drinking and Kurt looked up from the fork almost in his mouth. Finn slapped his hand on his face and hissed Rachel's name.

"Rachel they _just_ got married I think it's a little early to just spring that question on them."

"It's a valid question. I'm sure Burt and Carol want some more grandkids. They don't have to say yes and have kids in the next week but I was just wondering if they were thinking about it."

She shrugged her shoulders and Finn shook his head. Blaine and Kurt shared a look before Kurt spoke through the silence that had spread.

"Actually Rachel we have talked about kids."

Rachel squealed and clapped her hands together. The three guys winced at the high pitch and Finn rubbed his temples.

"We're gonna wait a year or two but then we want to adapt a baby."

Rachel reached across the table to try and hug Kurt but Finn pushed her down to prevent her from spilling on the table and from giving an awkward hug.

"Burt is going to be so excited."

"Rachel. We are waiting a few years there's no reason to tell dad yet. It could be a few years after we apply, even, before we actually can adapt a baby."

Rachel puffed out her cheeks and slumped on the booth but Finn patted her shoulder and gave her a kiss. Kurt cooed at them to get the conversation away from him and Blaine and babies. Rachel stuck her tongue out at them at Finn grinned.

They all smiled and laughed and the conversation moved to Lily, thanks to Blaine. They chatted and finished their food. They left about an hour later. The walked around the city talking for a while, window shopping and laughing about old times and telling Blaine stories of Kurt in high school.

After another hour of walking around the two couples separated, promising to meet up again for dinner and introducing Kurt and Blaine to Lily. Kurt and Blaine walked back to their apartment and started, again, opening the presents from the wedding and writing thank you letters.

Most of the stuff they got was little trinkets that were mostly inside jokes or pieces for their good china and formal glasses and silverware. Because they had been living together for a few years they had most of the stuff that they needed so they just asked for little things from their friends and asked Blaine's family for their formal dishes.

A few people got them other things, like Kitty got them, well Kurt, some nice fabric that he was looking at and Wes got them, OK he got Blaine, two tickets to an upcoming game. They smiled and laughed at most of the presents from their friends. The present form Jeff and Nick, though, made them both blush and they hid it under their bed.

 _That was going to make an interesting thank you card._

They took a break from opening presents when Burt called to talk with Kurt. They talked for a few hours before arranging for Burt and Carol to come back up to New York to visit in October. They talked for a little while longer before Burt had to get off the phone to eat dinner with Carol. They said their goodbyes and when Kurt hung up the phone Blaine hugged him.

Blaine could tell that Kurt missed his dad and he wanted to go down to Ohio to visit but Blaine also knew that he wouldn't do, not yet at least. Blaine was working, with Finn now, to try and track down Karofsky so Kurt could go back but they were trying to do it secretly so that meant they couldn't hire a private investigator to do the work for them.

The process was slow but Blaine and Finn thought that they could maybe convince Kurt to go back home by Christmas. They hadn't informed Burt or Carol about the plan, though it might be easier because Burt probably knew almost everyone in Lima, owning the only tire shop in town. For now they were just using the internet to track him down but Blaine thought they would have to ask Burt, or one of Finn's high school friends, for help soon.

Blaine kissed his husbands tear stained cheeks and Kurt smiled at him. They made dinner together after that and ate together in the living room, surrounded by presents watching Project Runway. Kurt snuggled against Blaine and Blaine wrapped his arms around him. They shared a kiss and fell asleep on the couch like that.


	18. Chapter 18

**Past**

Moving to New York was harder than Kurt thought. He didn't realize until he was sitting on a bus on the way to a new life that _now_ he was really leaving everything behind. He didn't cry on the bus, or he tried not to a few tears might have escaped but he quickly wiped them away.

He listened to his MP3 player until it died. The bus ride was almost ten hours so there could be stops but, surprisingly, it was an almost direct route from Columbus to New York. There wasn't too many people on the bus, only six including Kurt, and the bus only had enough seats for maybe twelve people, excluding the driver.

A few people talked but mostly hey talked with their traveling companions. They for a few minutes every hour or so to use bathrooms and so everyone could stretch out their legs. They stopped at a few tourist traps that were in route so some of the passengers could take pictures but Kurt just stayed on the bus for those.

He didn't have a camera, and didn't need one, so he saw everything from the bus window. Kurt was packed lightly both because he didn't have much positions and because there wasn't much room for baggage on the bus. He had clothes that the house had gotten him from the Salvation Army and some new shoes. He also had all his stuff that he grabbed from home before he ran away. Other than that he had a simple sewing kit from Ms. Miller and a nice, though slightly out of fashion, leather jacket from the adults in the house.

Clara and Neal made sure that Kurt had their numbers and the main line number to the house and told him to be sure to call if he needed help. Jamie talked to him before he left about staying healthy and eating right, even if that was fatty sometimes, so that he could maintain a healthy weight.

Kurt had smiled and even hugged them and some of the other teens he liked. They had had a party the night before he left with cake and Kurt even got to pick out the movie they all watched. It was fun but then Kurt was itching to leave. Now he wished he didn't have to leave so soon.

His family was in Ohio and even if he was never going to see them again at least he was in the same state. Now he was going to be ten hours away. The change of maybe running into them in New York was about zero but he might have if he stayed in Columbus. But New York was his dream, or it was and maybe could be again, and had more opportunities for him than staying in Ohio.

The bus dropped them off at the edge of the city as a bus station. After dropping off all the passengers it would park and load more people the next day. Kurt thanked the driver as he got off the bus and turned in a circle, looking at the city.

It really wasn't like the movies. The city was kinda dirty and the air wasn't clean and clear but there was huge buildings that looked beautiful and Kurt felt hope looking around. He grabbed his backpack and duffle bag and started walking.

Mrs. Betty had offered to come and meet him but she was older and Kurt didn't want to inconvenience her, especially on his first day with her. So Kurt was walking the mile and a half to Mrs. Betty's shop and his new apartment.

He kept to himself while walking and made sure he kept his stuff close to his body, he didn't want someone to try and take his stuff and he really didn't trust anyone here yet. A few weeks after it was decided he was going to go to New York Neal made sure that Kurt actually read up about the city and got to really knew what was happening so Kurt knew what the city really looked like.

The walk was good for Kurt. He got to see the local shops and peak into windows to see what was being sold in the area. He also got to see the people and get to know how the buildings were laid out.

It took Kurt about an hour to get to the apartment because he got lost a few times trying to follow the map he was given. When he did get there he smiled. Mrs. Betty's shop was in an older building. It was three stories based on the number of windows going up and was surrounded by similar buildings.

There was two small alley ways on either side of the building, the right side had a fire escape attached to the building. The window of the shop had mannequins with altered dresses and men's clothes. The window had a simple name across it _Mrs. Betty's Tailor_ with the hours of operation printed on the door.

Kurt took a deep breath and opened the door to the store. Inside was well light but was small. There were a few other mannequins around with different clothes on but the main section of the store was a huge counter.

There was a small swinging door on the far right that led to the back. The counter went all the way across the store but there was a wall about six feet behind the counter. A door went to the real back of the store from the wall.

A bell rang when Kurt walked in but no one came to the counter. There was another bell on the counter that Kurt hesitated before ringing it. It took a few moments but an elderly lady came out from the back and smiled at Kurt.

"Hi, I'm Kurt."

Kurt reached his hand out to shake hers. She grabbed his hand and shook.

"I'm Mrs. Betty but you can call me Betty."

Kurt smiled at her as they shook hands.

"I'll get you set up upstairs and then tomorrow you can start working down here."

Kurt nodded and Betty opened the swinging door for him and led him through to the back of the store. The back of the store had racks of clothes spread out through the room with sewing machines and desks with other sewing things.

She led him down a hallway on the right side of the room that led to a bathroom and stairs probably up to Kurt's apartment. Betty stopped before going up.

"Up here is your apartment. There is a door at the top that you should keep locked so no one down here can get up there."

She pulled out a key from her floral apron. She handed it to Kurt and Kurt carefully took it from her. She smiled and inclined her head to indicate that Kurt should go up the stairs. He walked up the stairs and on to a landing that only had a door. He took the key and unlocked the door to his new apartment.

The door opened to a larger open area. The floor was wooden. Straight ahead was some stairs then went up to a loft area with a bed and dresser and nothing else really. To the left of the door was a kitchen area. It was actually quite big for a small apartment.

There was a small table with chairs next and just a little out of the kitchen area. The back left area had some flora couches and a TV, which wasn't huge but was hooked up to a Blue-Ray player and appeared to play TV stations.

The living area was sectioned in half, half with the couches and half had a desk and chair with some sewing things spread around on the desk. The right back area was walled off in what Kurt assumed was a bathroom.

Betty pointed out a few things, like that the TV did indeed work and there was some DVD's that he could watch that were under the TV in the entertainment system. She also said there was Wi-Fi if Kurt had a device or was going to get one. She said that all the bills would be covered and not to worry about it because most of it was joined with the shop downstairs.

She told Kurt that later they could go out and she would show him were the local stores were and he would get a key to the shop so he could get in and out of his apartment.

"You can get in using the emergency fire escape but it's not the safest so I'm just going to trust you with the key to the shop. Be sure to lock it back up when you leave or come back if the store is closed."

Kurt nodded and Betty said she needed to get back downstairs but that Kurt should unpack and get settled in. She also said that there was some food in the fridge but he could get more when they went to the store later. Kurt nodded and Betty left Kurt's apartment.

The first thing Kurt did after the door closed behind Betty was to go up to the loft bedroom. He found that there was a dresser and a stating closet that acted as a closet. He started unpacking his clothes and other things that went around the apartment.

It didn't take him very long and once he finished he looked around his new apartment. He found that there was dishes in the kitchen, both for cooking and for eating on. The bathroom had cupboards with towels, washcloths, toilet paper, and other things that would be needed around the apartment.

After that search he looked at the DVD collection and a bookshelf full of books. He found a few books on fashion design, they were older but the patterns were more basic so it didn't matter too much that they were out of date.

He also found some older Vogue magazines. After he browsed through them he found that actually the subscription was active and the latest magazine was from that month. So Kurt sat down on one of the old couches and leafed through all the magazines he had missed, almost a years' worth.

Betty knocked on his door around five o'clock and Kurt got up from his cocoon of blankets that he got from the bathroom closet and answered the door. Together they went out and Betty showed Kurt the closest grocery store and department store. She also showed him around the area a little bit. She told him what direction to go in for places like the library, a book store, and other clothing stores.

Kurt picked some more things up from the grocery store but Betty said she would pay for them. Kurt tried to argue but she said she liked to have someone around the store at all times and she was getting to old to climb up the stairs. Kurt smiled and thanked her.

When they got back to the store Betty said she needed to get back to her apartment a few blocks down. She told Kurt to be ready by eight the next morning and she would knock on his door when she got there so she could start teaching in the way she liked things run.

Kurt plugged in his MP3 player and let it play all night to help him sleep. The bed wasn't bad and the mattress wasn't horrible but Kurt missed home, even if it was just Ohio. The noises were different, even from Columbus, and Kurt had trouble sleeping.

He was able to fall asleep after a few hours of tossing and turning and woke up in the morning to the sun. It was still a little while before Betty was due at the shop so Kurt made some breakfast for himself and coffee, both for himself and Betty if she wanted any.

Kurt changed into some of the clothes he got from the Salvation Army. He didn't have anything to style is hair with so didn't bother to do anything but comb it. Betty knocked on the door and Kurt answered it. He offered her a cup of coffee, which she took, and then led them down to the store.

She taught Kurt how to open the shop and how everything worked. How to take orders and the order of when to start tailoring different outfits. She also said that he would have to fit men's clothes and he could learn ladies but they might not be comfortable with Kurt alone in the changing room, which was in the back behind the wall.

Betty went through everything and shadowed Kurt all day to help him. She introduced him to the other girl who worked there that came in every few days between classes. Kurt got busy after that. Days blended together again but not in a bad way.

Now Kurt had a job that he liked and somewhere to live. He got paid some that he saved up because Betty continued to pay for his groceries. The store was closed on Saturday and Sunday but Betty often came by then to work on stuff and so did Kurt.

Some days, though, Kurt would wander the city. He found a coffee shop he liked and the library. He also found a cheap fabric store that he started buying material from. He designed some of his own clothes based off today's fashion, like he did while in high school.

The store mostly had consistent customers who came in maybe once a week. Things were consistent and Kurt was finding his place and learning who he was again.


	19. Chapter 19

_Happy Holidays! here are the last three chapters! i hope this story turned out alright and that everyone liked it :)_

* * *

 **Present**

Burt and Carol came up to New York City in October and they made plans to come up again for Thanksgiving. While they visited they got to know Kurt again and got to know Blaine. They met up with Finn and Rachel as well and they ate out as a family together.

Kurt and Blaine got to meet Lily for the first time and they were all enchanted. Rachel tattled that Kurt and Blaine wanted a baby and Burt cried. Kurt glared at Rachel and told his dad that they wanted to wait a year or two before looking into adoption. Burt had still hugged them and hold them it was a good idea.

Blaine cornered his new father in law and told him about his and Finn's task and he agreed to help them. When they left Kurt was happy and excited to see them again next month for Thanksgiving at his and Blaine's apartment.

Kurt spent a lot of time making sure everything was right come November. Blaine toned down some of his ideas and decoration plans but it was still Kurt. He was planning on making way to much food and he wanted his parents to stay at the apartment, both Blaine and Burt convinced Kurt that that wasn't the best idea. Instead they were going to get a hotel room in the area.

The Hudmels, as Kurt said they efficiently called themselves in high school, were coming from Ohio on the day before Thanksgiving because that's when Burt could leave work. Finn and Blaine were going to get them at the airport while Kurt and Rachel started cooking.

Blaine and Finn were banished to the living room so Kurt and Rachel could start making the pies and prepping for the next day. Even Rachel was a little impressed by Kurt's cooking and his organization skills.

The three of them, Rachel, Finn, and Lily, arrived at Kurt and Blaine's apartment at ten o'clock in the morning. Kurt and Blaine spent an hour playing with her before one of her friend's mom came to pick her up for a play date. Finn and Blaine would pick her up then after getting Carol and Burt from the airport.

After Lily left Kurt started baking. His list of pies included two pumpkin, one apple, one pecan, and his mom's peach pie. Rachel tried to say that was way too much pie but Kurt waved her off and said that if they weren't all eaten then he would give the rest to a homeless shelter.

Finn tried to creep into the kitchen a few times but Kurt chased him out of the kitchen with a wooden spoon. Blaine shook his head but stayed on the couch watching the game. Rachel gapped a little at Kurt and Finn's antics but when they both laughed she settled down a little bit.

At one Finn and Blaine left for the airport and Kurt and Rachel kept baking and Kurt cranked up the Broadway music on the surround sound. They sang and danced along to the music as they baked, or rather as they waited for the timer to go off for the oven.

When the Finn and Blaine returned with Lily, Burt, and Carol, Finn, Blaine, and Burt watched Lily while Carol joined Kurt and Rachel in the kitchen finishing the baking. They also prepped the turkey, will Kurt and Carol prepped the turkey while Rachel complained about being a vegan, and they started on a few other dishes, most would have to be done the next day but they did what they could.

Once everything was done that they could do everyone sat down to watch a Disney movie that was Lily's favorite at the moment. After the movie was done they went out to eat at a restaurant preapproved by Rachel, both for her vegan standards and for Lily. After eating they all went their separate ways for the night with the promise to be back at Kurt and Blaine's early the next morning.

It was a great Thanksgiving. Everyone enjoyed themselves and most of the food was eaten. They all laughed when Rachel still wasn't used to how much her husband could eat and Finn just kept eating until he almost passed out.

Kurt, reluctantly, allowed the burden of Christmas Eve dinner to be done at Finn and Rachel's. This was the first step in Blaine, Finn, and Burt's plan. Burt confirmed that Karofsy and his relatives no longer lived in Lima and had moved out of state to someplace in Iowa so now they just had to get Kurt to Ohio.

First Kurt needed to not expect to cook for everyone that day so he wouldn't feel bad about shrinking in his duties. Next Blaine would have to carefully reveal that he had been looking for Karofsy and convince Kurt to come home for Christmas. Everyone else would have to help with convincing him but they all, Rachel and Carol had been introduced to the plan the night before, wanted to see Kurt back at home.

It was tricky trying to bring up Karofsy to Kurt. Blaine knew that Kurt would be angry when Blaine told him they tracked him down. So Blaine waited a week before even brining up maybe going to Ohio for Christmas. Kurt's response was expected, spitting it down instantly.

Blaine took the next week to drop subtle hits that going to Ohio would be a good idea and that Burt and Carol wanted them over. He even tried suggesting that Rachel couldn't handle cooking Christmas Eve dinner but that didn't work because Kurt called Rachel to ask if she needed help.

It ended up being Fin who accidently told Kurt, it was accidental because he though Blaine had already told Kurt and they were just adding to try and convince him to really go. He was talking about getting together with some of the old football guys. Kurt stiffened a little but Finn was still a little oblivious.

"So it was obviously pretty easy to find Mike, Puck, and Sam cuz where all still friends on Facebook and keep it sorta contact. Though none of em' still live in Lima but they helped be track down everyone else.

"We found everyone and Shane and Anthony are the only ones even still in Ohio. Matt lives in California with his wife. Even Kar-"

Rachel kicked Finn rather obviously.

"Ouch! Rachel what was that for!"

"We aren't talking about him, Finn!"

Rachel spoke through gritted teeth and kept an eye on Kurt. Kurt was very pale and his eyes were a little wild. He had a death grip on Blaine's hands.

"I wasn't talking about him! Geeze Rachel I was going to say 'Even Karol, the water boy junior year is living in Ohio.' Although they both do live in the same state now. Huh."

Rachel glared but Kurt looked up.

"What?'

Everyone looked at Kurt then. He looked a mixture of hopeful and scared and Finn felt a little guilty. He really hadn't meant to let that slip out but Blaine was supposed to have told him by now. Finn scratched his head but decided to go ahead with what he was saying.

"Ah ya, Karofsky lives in Iowa now and his family moved from Lima down to Florida for the warmer weather."

"Really? Finn don't lie to me, are you sure that Karofsky and his family moved out of state and Anthony and Sean are the only ones that still live in state?"

Finn nodded.

"Ya I checked Facebook and Burt confirmed it."

Blaine was expecting Kurt to blow up but he didn't. He jumped up and hugged Finn. Finn didn't respond at first but then he hugged Kurt back. After that it was easier to convince Kurt to go back home. It only took Blaine two days to convince him and finalize their plans and they were officially going to Ohio for Christmas. Kurt was finally going to go home.


	20. Chapter 20

**Past**

Kurt worked for Betty for a year before she started mentioning something about retiring and suggesting Kurt should look for another job. It wasn't a push out and she made sure to tell Kurt that. She said she would stay in business as long as Kurt didn't find something else.

After that Kurt started looking around for other tailor jobs and apartments. He talked with Betty about when she wanted to sell and to who. She said she could sell the business to Kurt but Kurt declined. He didn't have the money to buy it and when Betty said they could work out a loan Kurt considered by declined again. Betty needed the money from the sale to really retire and Kurt knew she wanted to move to Florida or Georgia to retire.

Kurt started out just looking in the area but when he really didn't find much he moved away from the area. He still went to the library and researched patterns and he went at least once a week to his local coffee shop. He started going more often when he saw a cute regular there.

He was shorter than Kurt but only by a few inches with black hair gelled down within an inch of its life. He wore vests with bowties and Kurt was developing a crush. He often came to the coffee shop with magazines, Vogue a lot of the time, or books, college books, on music theory and composition.

Once Kurt staked him a little and looked at his coffee cup and saw his name, _Blaine_. Kurt started coming to the shop a few times a week and then once a week when he noticed that Blaine was there that often. Blaine normally came alone and around seven till nine most days.

It was the end of October when Kurt didn't see Blaine at the coffee shop at the normal time. Sometimes he would be late or the barista, who noticed Kurt's crush, told Kurt that he showed up and left already or he came earlier in the day. She didn't tell Kurt that Blaine had already come in but she did have a sorta smile on her face.

Kurt waited a half hour for Blaine before biting his lip and deciding to leave, really this crush was getting out of hand. He was just about to stand up when Blaine walked into the café wearing a blazer and red and blue striped tie. With him were a group of men, well young men that were probably the same age as Kurt and Blaine, they all came into the café and stood in a pyramid formation.

Blaine looked right at Kurt and then they, the entire group, started to sing. They were an acapella group and Blaine was, obviously, the lead. Blaine looked at him as his group sang Teenage Dream right at Kurt, too him?

He thought maybe he was mistaken but the way the barista was smiling indicated that she was in on this plan. When the song was finished the guys clapped and walked to get coffee while Blaine sat down with Kurt. Kurt was a little start struck, Blaine had an amazing voice. Blaine grinned at Kurt.

"So this is my clever plan to ask you out. I'll admit to coming to this coffee shop more since I saw you here, even if it is a walk from campus, good exercise, right?"

Blaine snickered nervously and looked at Kurt hopefully. Kurt just stared at him, was he really being asked out, by a boy!? Blaine shifted a little in his seat.

"Crap I should have known better than to try and serenade a guy in public again. I mean last time the guy got fired but this time I figured it would work out better because you don't work here and-"

Kurt stopped him by putting his hand on top of Blaine's and smiling. Got Blaine was even cuter when he rambled.

"Blaine you can stop rambling. I thought it was beautiful and sweet."

Blaine grinned and Kurt stuck out his hand.

"I'm Kurt."

Blaine grinned more.

"I know that and I'm guessing you know my name the same way I know yours."

Kurt blushed a little, OK well more than a little, and smiled at Blaine. They stayed silent for a moment before one of Blaine's friends stopped at their table.

"Aww you two will have such cute babies. I'm Jeff and I'm going to help you both from this being waaay to awkward. Blaine is a music student at NYU and you obviously like fashion. Talk."

Jeff walked away and both Kurt and Blaine blushed at one another. They were able to talk after that though. It started out about music and then changed to fashion and other topics. Soon Blaine's friends were leaving, teasing Blaine before they left, and the café was closing.

They exchanged numbers, well Blaine gave Kurt his number and Kurt gave Blaine the number to his apartment with the promise that he would get a new cell phone so they could actually talk. They called that their first date and promised to meet at the café again on Friday for their second date.

On their fifth date Blaine took Kurt to a more upscale restaurant for lunch so they could walk around the city. That's when Kurt saw Unique's Boutique. They were looking for help, a tailor and a sales associate. Kurt asked Blaine if it was OK to go in and Blaine agreed.

Kurt got an interview for the next day and Blaine took him out to dinner to celebrate. Kurt got the job and would start working the next month, because he needed time to figure out his job with Betty and they didn't need him quite yet.

Betty was ecstatic when he told her. She just got an offer for the business from one of the neighbors looking to expand. Betty helped him find an apartment in the area and so did Blaine. Together the three of them found a place Kurt could afford and pay the bills for.

It was small and a little run down but Kurt loved it. He moved from the apartment over the shop to his new one on his last day at the shop. Betty let him keep most of the stuff from the apartment and some of the stuff from the shop that was closing officially the next month.

Things were looking up for Kurt. He had a boyfriend, an apartment, and a job that he loved. He even had some friends, some his own but most where Blaine's. Kurt smiled as he looked at Blaine, the only thing missing from his life was his family but he blocked that out, he wasn't ever going to see them again and his life now was good, amazing.


	21. Chapter 21

_i'm sorry if these last few chapters felt a little rushed and strange. It was getting to the end of the month and i was just sick of writing but i wanted to finish the story and reach my goal so... sorry if they weren't the best!_

 **Present**

Kurt got off the plane in Columbus with Blaine, Finn, and Rachel. From there they took a car to Lima. Kurt was plastered to the window the entire time. Finn drove so Kurt and Blaine could sit in the back. Kurt gripped Blaine's hand tightly the entire time.

When they drove into Lima Kurt turned and buried his face into Blaine's shoulder. He didn't move until Finn pulled into the Hudmel driveway and shut off the engine. He looked up then and tears ran down his face.

Blaine held him as Finn opened the back door and trunk. Kurt wiped his tears from his face and stepped out of the car. He took a deep breath and spun in a circle. This was home. There was more tears when Kurt got inside the house.

It was the same house as the one he left but it had been redecorated and redesigned a few times. Burt smiled when he saw his son at home again. Everyone cried and cried some more when Kurt saw his old bedroom looked exactly the same as when he left.

The next few days were similar. Kurt cried a lot and so did Burt. The four of them came from New York on the 23rd and were planning on staying until New Year's Day. The first few days they set up the tree and celebrated Christmas, and Hanukah for Rachel.

On the 26th Rachel, Carol, and Kurt went shopping and the guys watched something, maybe a football game if that was still in season, on TV. On the 27th, though, Kurt took Blaine to say goodbye to his fear.

They went to Kurt's old high school and Kurt cried as he showed Blaine around. Blaine held him as Kurt told him stories about his high school days, some Blaine knew but some were new. After a few hours wandering the empty halls they left and Kurt took Blaine to a cemetery.

"I used to visit here a lot when I was younger to work things out after she died."

Blaine hugged his husband and they stood there for a while before Kurt kissed his husband and they left. Kurt smiled around him. He was home and he was completely whole again with his old family and his new.


End file.
